The Difference One Makes
by Cynthia of the Wallflowers
Summary: I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing. I see the future, but I swear I will change it.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

><p><strong>General Warnings:<strong> AU (later on), (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

><p><strong>Summary: <strong>I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my clansmen vanish off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing.

I see the future, but I swear I will change it.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Prologue<strong>

Few knew of the existence of the nomad clan that passed though Kaze no Kuni like clockwork every three years. Many who hear of the rumors don't even believe the clan actually exists. One could hardly blame them for being skeptical. Not even the rare few who _had_ managed to catch a glimpse of the enigmatic clan ever seemed quite sure whether the clan had been real.

_Pale,_ one merchant had said, unsettled. _They had pale skin and white clothes and even their hair was white. They looked like ghosts._

_It was like there was a little voice in the back of my head,_ a kunoichi reported. _Warning me not to get any closer. And I trust my instincts. They keep me from getting killed._

_They disappeared when I got too close,_ another shinobi claimed. _And I couldn't find them at all. No scent, no sound, just...gone._

Was it any wonder that Sunagakure villagers believed the deserts were haunted?

It didn't help, of course, that the rare new tidbits of information on the mysterious clan that managed to trickle down to the masses were often edited and misconstrued.

_They have this ritual during the full moon, you know?_

_Maybe they're just some weird cult that worships Tsukuyomi-sama._

_I heard that Tsukuyomi-sama blesses them with knowledge that mortals dare not touch._

_Nah, I bet they're just trying to communicate with the dead._

_Don't be ridiculous they're _ghosts_, they're _already_ dead!_

_Well...maybe they're trying to open the door to the afterlife so they can move on!_

_Ooooh..._

The rumors were ridiculous. Exaggerated. Overblown. But even rumors always held a grain of truth. And sometimes, the rumors were closer to the truth than most would like.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

The minimum age of participation in the ritual is six.

I am seven when I take part in my first ritual.

"_Seven is a good number,"_ my mother tells me._ "Seven, three and one. Powerful and lucky numbers."_

"_There hasn't been a child of seven in the ritual for over a century_,_"_ my father says. I smile, but really, I think, that children are so rare in our clan now ― not that our clan has ever been particularly large in the first place ― that my first ritual happening when I am seven is just a coincidence, nothing more. It would be the same as any other ritual that my peers took.

I was wrong.

Our triennial ritual is a simple ritual, really. It serves to heighten our kekkei genkai's range. The members of our clan would sit in a circle under the full moon and meditate. The members who were in their first, third, or seventh ritual would sit in a smaller circle inside the larger.

Our kekkei genkai is...special.

Simply put, it allows us to see the future.

Our kekkei genkai is tied to the moon, you see. On normal nights, we can choose to open our inner Eye and See short glimpses of the near future in our sleep, or during meditation ― the fuller the moon, the more we can See. (No one is quite sure why, but most speculate it has something to do with the way the moon is often associated with illusions and the future.)

Our ritual ― held under a full moon, in the desert, where illusions are common, every three years ― allows us to, just for that night, See further into the future. Sometimes, even _decades,_ into the future, if the person is powerful enough. And when you wake the next morning, you will find that your visions are clearer, or longer, or further in the future. The older one is, the more or better they can See.

A person's first, third, and seventh ritual years are particularly powerful.

Especially, as I find, when your first time is when you are seven.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes:<strong> This is actually a sort of spin off/rewrite of a story I published on Quotev; a version of how it could have gone if the clan had had this kekkei genkai instead of what I decided on instead. Personally, I think this one is more interesting.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

Edited: 8/19/2015


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

><p><strong>General Warnings:<strong> AU (later on), (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

><p><strong>Summary: <strong>I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my clansmen vanish off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing.

I see the future, but I swear I will change it.

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

"Yuki! Yu-ki!" I turn my head ever-so-slightly towards the waving, grinning menace barrelling in my direction.

"_What?_" I ground out. I was at a good part in my book.

"The ritual's coming up!" Ren blurts out excitedly the moment he catches his breath. His enthusiasm is (sadly) not at all dampened by my less-than-enthusiastic reply. I raise an eyebrow.

"So?" He pouts. I swear the boy acts even younger than me ― and I'm supposed to be the baby of the clan.

"You should be more excited! It's your first ritual! I was bouncing everywhere when I had my first ritual-"

"You _always_ bounce everywhere, Baka-Ren. It's a wonder the clan is still standing," I deadpan.

"I do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not!" I return to my book, refusing to get caught into the childish "Do not, do too" argument that ― the last time we had degenerated into ― had continued for _half an hour_. Ren can be such a stubborn _ass_ sometimes. (I ignore the fact that I had out-stubborned him and won in the end.) He lapses into a petulant silence that I blissfully enjoy.

Ren gives first, after only about ten minutes. I am just mildly disappointed.

"So so so!" He babbles, bouncing as he walks beside me. Clan members smile at us as we pass. This is a rather common sight ― his bubbly chattering and my irritated silence. "I heard Tou-san and the elders talking and we're gonna start heading to Kaze no Kuni pretty soon! Maybe even today!" I flip a page absently, listening with one ear as he prattles on. There were some perks to having the clan leader's son as your (self-proclaimed) friend. One such perk is almost always having inside information first.

We reach our typical lunch spot, Ren chattering amiably about everything and nothing, and me inserting snarky comments every now and then. I open my lunch (onigiri) and Ren, as always, swipes a couple. I let him. I had packed more for him anyway, not that I would ever admit it.

"Umai!" Ren sighs, as he bites in. "I like your onigiri."

"Get your own, asshole," I scowl. He is not at all fazed by my potty mouth. There's a short moment of silence.

"You're seven right now, right?" I blink at this non sequitur.

"Duh. Did you forget how old I am, Baka-Ren?" He scowls, cheeks red.

"No! It's just that," He leans in. "I heard Tou-san and Osamu-sama talking about you-" I am instantly suspicious. The clan leader and a clan elder talking about _me_?

"Did they mention me by name?" I interrupt, raising an eyebrow. He splutters.

"Well- no-"

"Then how do you know they were talking about me?"

"There's only so many girls in the inner circle this year-"

"There's Kimiko." I can't help but turn my nose up ever so slightly at the mention of her name. Unfortunately, Ren notices and grins.

"Maa maa, don't be like that. She can be..." He trails off, unable to think of anything that could make her seem any more agreeable. "Nice." He finishes lamely. I snort.

Kimiko and I...didn't quite get along, despite her being the closest to my age in the clan. She was giggly, fussy, vapid. and basically, downright irritating. I would even grudgingly admit that Ren was better than Kimiko in terms of people-I-would-rather-spend-time-with. At least Ren was useful (sometimes) and could make decent conversation (if incessant, mostly one-sided chattering counts as conversation).

Kimiko was just...

"Miyuki-chan!"

Speak of the devil and he (or she, in this case) shall appear. I stifle a groan. Beside me, Ren plasters on a fake smile as the small, white-haired girl flounces up to us, her pink, frilled dress bouncing in a rather annoying fashion. (Who in their right mind wears pink, frilled dresses as their casual clothing? _Bright_ pink to boot.)

"Ah, Ren-chan, ohayo!"

"Ohayo, Kimiko," Ren greets her with a nod and (pained) smile. She frowns down at us, hands on her hips.

"You shouldn't sit on the ground like that, Miyuki-chan, it's unladylike! And look at the _awful_ state of your clothes-"

I sigh (mentally). One of the more unbearable parts of Kimiko (more unbearable than normal anyway) is the way she typically alternates between treating people as babies and expecting them to be perfect (eg: like her). And, as I am the only clan member actually younger than her (physically at least; I am leagues ahead of her mentally), I am a constant victim.

"-are you listening to me, Miyuki-chan?" I nod obediently. She huffs, looking at me expectantly.

"You didn't listen at all did you? I said not to sit on the floor!" The _most_ irritating part of Kimiko, is, of course, the way she expects everyone to obey her. I wonder briefly if her parents knew this when they named her.

I am brought back to earth by Kimiko stomping her foot.

"Miyuki-chan!" I sigh softly.

"Listening does not always mean obeying, Kimiko. As much as I appreciate your concerns, there are, sadly, no dining tables within vicinity."

Ren doesn't quite manage to hide his snort. I make a mental note to drill him mercilessly in the art of keeping a straight face later.

"You shouldn't eat outside then!" Kimiko shrieks, her face flushing, glaring at Ren as if he is the cause of all of my uncouthness (which is hilarious because, if anything, I am a bad influence on _him_). I wince internally as she opens her mouth to unleash another long diatribe. Luckily, we are interrupted.

"Oi, 'Miko!" Kimiko's mouth snaps shut, and she turns.

"Aki-kun!" Aki stops in front of us, huffing in extertation. Kimiko beams, bouncing up to him, rather reminiscent of Ren's typical form of travel. Aki gives a slight grin, the typical tense set of his shoulders melting away in the proximity of Kimiko ― which I have never understood, since it is usually the opposite case for me, but Aki has always been odd. To each their own, I suppose.

"Drop the 'kun' already, 'Miko," Aki sighs, rolling his eyes ― a rare act of flippancy, considering how he usually acts around people who are not Kimiko or Hiro-nee. "It was funny the first time you tried it, now it's just gotten old. Oh, hey Ren, Miyuki," he greets us before turning back to Kimiko. "What are you doing anyway, 'Miko? You were only supposed to find Miyuki and Ren and then come back. Your sister's been looking all over for you. Something about needing to pack all your clothes."

"Are we moving again? Now?" Ren blurts. Aki looks faintly exasperated.

"You didn't even tell them?" He asks Kimiko, sighing again. She looks slightly sheepish.

"I got distracted." Here, Kimiko frowns down at me, still sitting on the floor. Aki catches the look and quickly intervenes.

"Anyway, yeah, we're moving again, so you guys should get back soon too. C'mon 'Miko, Hiro-nee looked really pissed the last time I saw her!" I quickly scarf down whatever's left of my onigiri as Aki leaves with Kimiko hot on his heels, and turn to Ren.

"Hurry up, Baka-Ren." Ren nearly chokes as he attempts to inhale his food under my frigid stare. I snicker inwardly.

"I'm done! Let's go, Yuki!" Ren jumps up and grabs my arm, yanking me along as he scampers back to our camp.

"Baka-Ren, if you don't let go of me, I'll make sure you have no hand." He lets go, bounding ahead with an enthusiastic laugh.

"Come on, Yuki, you slowpoke! I bet even snails can crawl faster than you!"

I growl, but my lips quirk up ever so slightly as I catch up to the idiot and bop him over the head.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

Our packing is done quickly and efficiently ― we _are_ a nomad clan after all; moving quickly and on short notices is practically second nature to us ― and our clan is on its way to the Wind country only a few hours after being informed of our move.

That did not, however, mean that we were all travelling peacefully and quietly.

"Hide!" Shou squeals as he rushes past me.

"Take-nii's on the warpath!" Ryou exclaims as he dives under our wagon after Shou.

"Yuki, help!" Ren had evidently been caught up with Ryou and Shou's antics. Again, I might add. I sigh, innerly amused.

"What have you idiots done this time?"

"Nothing!" Ren yelps.

"Shh, he's coming!" Shou hushes, peering out. Ren eeps and dives under to join them.

"Don't give us away!" Ryou pleads. My lips twitch.

"No promises." The three give me horrified, wounded-puppy looks. I raise my book to hide my smirk.

"Yuki!" They dive back under the supposed safety of the wagon as Take-nii thunders past the line of wagons and people towards us.

"Take-nii," I greet him.

Takeshi, at the age of seventeen, is the eldest of our generation. Moderately tall and muscled, with our clan's typical white hair, and his late father's ice blue eyes, he can make a pretty intimidating image. It wasn't hard to see why he was one of the prime candidates for the next clan head. Luckily (for Shouta and Ryousuke, our twins-in-all-but-biological-parents pranksters) he is also quite easygoing and has a great sense of humor.

"Did Ryou, Shou, and Ren come by?"

"Yes." I can sense Ren's horror, even from here, and I resist the urge to snicker. "What did they do this time?" Take-nii looks torn between amusement and irritation. Whatever they did must not have been too bad.

"They stole Kaa-san's cookies and left a jack-in-the-box holding a note saying 'IOU a thank you for 12 cookies' in its place." I blink. Had they finally decided on a proper calling card? I vaguely remembered that the last time they had pulled a prank, they had tried spray painting their names, and the time before they had somehow tailored some miniature fireworks to spell their names.

"That sounds...rather tame for them."

"They also proceeded to clean our pantry of anything remotely interesting. Including our dinner. That's why I'm chasing them." He informed me. I snort.

"Ryou and Shou, food thieves extraordinaire," I catch a muffled, indignant protest from under the wagon. Luckily, Take-nii doesn't seem to hear.

"So, where did they go?" Debating over the issue briefly, I decide to take pity on them.

"Dunno. I was reading." I wave the book in my hand in his face. "And you're interrupting. Go away." He eyes me doubtfully. I was rather good at paying attention to my surroundings, even when I didn't look it, and everyone in the clan knew it.

"Really?" He voices skeptically. A weaker person would have caved under his piercing gaze. I, on the other hand, prided myself in having the best poker face and acting skills in the clan. I sigh, as if giving up.

"They went somewhere that way," I wave somewhere behind me negligently. It isn't completely a lie. The wagon they are hiding under _is_ behind me after all. Take-nii grins.

"Thanks!" He tosses over his shoulder as he bounds off in the direction I indicated.

I wait a few minutes after his footsteps fade out of earshot before deciding it is safe.

"You idiots can come out now." Ren is the first to scramble out.

"Yuu-ki!" he cries, throwing himself at me. "My saviour! Thaaank yoouu!" I fend off his glomps with an air of practiced ease.

"I didn't do it for you, I did it for the cookies." I tell him bluntly. My eyes shift to Ryou and Shou. "Hand some over."

"So meeaan," Ren whines. Shou snickers as Ryou passes me three cookies. Kaa-san shakes her head at us in fond exasperation as we crawl into the wagon to enjoy our goods.

"Ami-obaachan's cookies are the best!" Ren says happily, spraying crumbs everywhere.

"Shut up, Baka-Ren," I say, swiping the last of his cookies. "You're gonna clean that up."

"Hey!" He wails. "My cookie!" I crawl out of the small space to the wagon seat and lean back, ignoring him. I hear Shou laughing as Ryou tries ― and fails ― to distract Ren from the loss of his cookie.

The wind swirls past, warm and dry.

I stare up at the clear blue sky above, Ren's grumbles, Ryou's helpless snickers, and Shou's raucous laughter behind me, and wish this kind of peace would last forever.

The wind picks up, a touch of sand behind it, but promises nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

Edited: 8/18/2015


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

><p><strong>General Warnings:<strong> AU (later on), (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

"We're here!"

I crack open one eye, lifting my book off my face slightly. I see Ren racing in my direction.

"Yuki, we're here!" He exclaims again. I yawn.

"I realized." I say dryly, sitting up and stretching. It is almost dusk. The sky is a beautiful purple that is quickly fading into indigo but there are streaks of red and orange still on the horizon, lighting the sand beneath our feet a tawny, golden brown.

"Tomorrow's the ritual night!"

"I know," I say patiently, well aware that Ren is nervous (for some reason ― it wasn't like this was his first time) and needed to get everything out of his system, and I was just the unlucky person he had decided to unload on.

"I completely forgot to tell you what I overheard Tou-san and Osamu-sama talking about!" He chatters nervously. I sigh patiently, still quite sure they had not been talking about me. But I humor him.

"You can just tell me now then." He nods furiously.

"Theysaidyoumighthavereallystrongvisionscuzyou-"

"Ren." I interrupt. "Calm down. Breathe." He took a deep breath. "Right. Now, repeat. Slower this time."

"They said that you might have really strong visions cuz you're seven years old and this is your first ritual." He repeats, bouncing on one foot anxiously. "Apparently, the last recorded time there was a kid who had their first ceremony when they were seven years old, the kid..." He stops here and gulps. I raise an eyebrow.

"The kid...?" I prompt. His voice lowers to a whisper.

"The kid died," Ren looks at me. "He couldn't stand the strain of all the visions he saw. That's why there hasn't been a seven year old in the ritual for over a century." I still. Ren gulps again, looking like he wants to cry. "I don't want you to die, Yuki."

"Don't be stupid, Baka-Ren," I say harshly. "I'm not gonna die."

"But-"

"I'm not gonna die of something as stupid as being unable to handle my own kekkei genkai." I interrupt firmly. "If there's anything I'm gonna die of anytime soon, it'll be from you annoying me to death." Ren looks mortally offended.

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" But he smiles, even though his eyes stay a worried violet-blue.

"You are. Don't deny it," I say. He grins, burying the agitation in his eyes under his smile.

"Fine." He huffs in mock-indignation. "You'll have to see how awesome I am when I bribe you with cake!"

I stare. "Where would you even get the cake?"

"Hiro-nee made cake to celebrate you and Kimiko's first ritual," he informs me. "So we should go right now if we wanna get some!"

I wrinkle my nose. "But I don't like cake."

Ren huffs. "Don't be such a spoilsport. Come on!" And he yanks me along, regardless of my threats and protests.

I chance a look up at his face as he tugs me along. His grin is real ― it always is around me nowadays ― and the violet in his eyes has lightened enough to almost fool me into thinking that he is no longer worried. I look away, to where I can see Kimiko, AKi, Take-nii, Ryou, and a drooling Shou clustered around an exasperated-looking Hiro-nee holding a frosted, medium-sized cake. Ren gives a shout of greeting, bright and cheerful, and if I look now, I know his eyes will be a neutrally-light sea-blue again.

Ren has always been a good actor after all.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

I take a deep breath as I sit down within the circle for the first time, peering towards the outer circle. Ren grins back at me somewhat shakily as he sits, cross legged, between his parents. His knees bounce in nervous anticipation and dread. Arashi-sama, his father, the clan leader, lays a hand on his knee, halting his restless fidgets. His mother, Marii-san, looks as serene as always, smiling soothingly at me. My own parents are beginning to look a touch teary and anxious, which doesn't help at all. I begin to feel jittery. Despite the confident reassurances I had given Ren, I can't help but think of what might happen. _What if I _do _di-_

I cut myself off. Being pessimistic was well and good, especially for anticipating worst-case scenarios but if I kept this up, I wouldn't be able to focus and keep myself together.

I am brought out of my musings by the raspy voice of our most venerable and ancient (at the ridiculously old age of a hundred and two) clan elder, Osamu-sama.

"Let us begin." Osamu-sama intones.

The moon appears from beneath the clouds, bathing the circles in an eerie silvery-gray. And my inner Eye flies open, and I am dragged in.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

As I land in the depths of the inky darkness of my Eye, I fall into a horror story.

_A pale eyed girl saving a blond boy from six orange-haired invaders, standing in the smoking crater of a once-mighty village. The pitiful cries of the injured and dying echo behind them._

_The blond boy and a pink haired girl with their silver haired sensei battling a swirl-masked man. The masked man disappearing into another dimension, reappearing when they least expected it. A kunai plunged into the sensei's back._

_A pale eyed boy, speared through the back, entrusting the safety of the sobbing, pale-eyed girl to the blond boy by his side. The blond, giving his oath, using the boy's death to rally his troops and, for a time, almost, _almost_ winning._

_A gray-haired snake-boy, joining the masked man with a villainous plot upon his lips. A new army, formidable and heartbreaking, to torment those still living._

_The blond boy flickering here and there, saving his friends from the overwhelming army of the already dead, but still too late to help the pale eyed girl he had sworn to protect, her soundless lips mouthing "I love you." The blond, crying out wordlessly in grief, red chakra exploding around him, losing control and a demon taking his place._

_The turning point. A seal, warped, on a dark-haired boy, dragging him into the depths of madness. The masked man, controlling the boy like a puppet, sending him to kill the blond boy and very nearly succeeding. The masked man, using the exhausted, dark-haired boy's body to revive his ancestor and destroying the seal upon the blond boy's stomach._

_A nine-tailed beast in forced subservience, wreaking havoc upon the shinobi camps. The blond boy, nowhere to be seen._

_Five people _― _a red haired boy, a deceptively young, blonde lady, a short grampa, a muscled, dark-skinned man, an auburn haired woman _―_ facing a man with eyes filled with swirling scarlet hatred and falling to his tainted strength._

_A ten-tailed monster rampaging across the remains of a just-rebuilt village, five faces carved on a cliff gone with a swish of its tail, an enormous murky ball of chakra shooting from it's mouth, annihilating a village of sand on the other side of the continent, civilians screaming, children crying, shinobi of all ages and rank desperately, hopelessly trying to stop it._

The scene sharpens and it is no longer just an image. I smell the bitter, coppery tang of blood permeating the air, hear the screams and sobs of the injured and dying, the futile pleading of mothers clutching their children before they are brutally slaughtered by a relentless, white-cloned army.

The sky darkens and the sun disappears. The moon bleeds a sickening crimson and the stars twinkle out, one by one. I see men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watch the last of the blond boy's friends fall, my clansmen all but _vanish_ off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I feel the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence blanketing the world, and I want to scream, to run, and do_ something_ but my body _won't move_ because _I'm not really there_-

And the scene changes.

When my Eye focuses again, I am no longer in a horror story. In fact, I can tell, I am years before the events of the previous visions.

It's still not pretty though.

There's the blond haired boy again, much much younger and so very much alive, being chased by an angry mob, but while his escape routes are good and plentiful, his luck runs out eventually.

"_Demon."_

"_Monster."_

"_Doesn't deserve to live..."_

The boy, enrolled into the Academy, but too early, failing test after test, passing on his last chance ― ironically, with the group he was supposed to be passing with had he been entered at the correct age.

The boy, assigned to a team with the dark haired boy, whose eyes lurk with unadulterated hatred, and the pink haired girl, whose heart beats with cruel, childish innocence. Their silver-haired sensei, lost in his own emotional turmoil, unable to face either the blond or brunette without wanting to scream and cry, watching his team bond and fracture but helpless to stop it.

The dark haired boy, leaving the village, and, of course, blond boy, going after him, nearly killing each other in a parody of their ancestors, a shadow of what is to come.

And everything goes dark again, and I wake up with just one name ― the place I know I will start.

_Konoha._

~ : {TDOM} : ~

Our Sight is not what makes our clan special. Or rather, not _just_ that anyway.

What makes our clan special is the fact that we cannot see ourselves in our visions ― or, more accurately, we have never seen ourselves in a vision.

"_What does this mean?" I ask._

Our clan is very isolated for a reason. We know what will come and, short of the apocalypse, we cannot interfere because we have do not know whether our involvement will make the situation even worse or not.

(After all, nothing can tip the scales of Balance like someone who knows the future.)

But if that was not the apocalypse, then I'm not sure what is.

"_It means we can change the future."_

* * *

><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

Edited: 8/19/2015


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

><p><strong>General Warnings:<strong> AU (later on), (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> I've decided I'm going to go for longer chapters instead of shorter updates, I hope no one minds. And I apologize if this chapter's a bit boring ― but the next chapter's already half typed and has my first fight scenes in it, so look forward to it!

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

"Yuki!? Yuki!?" I blink blearily up at the person hovering above me.

"Wha?" I mumble, attempting to sit up. I feel nauseous, tired, and, despite the stifling heat of the desert pressing in all around me, cold, as if I had been thrown into a tub of ice.

"Yuki!" The figure I can now identify as Ren throws himself at me, burying his face in my midsection, which does nothing to help my nausea. My hands tremble lightly, fingers twitching in slight, erratic motions against my will, and my mouth is dry.

"I thought you weren't going to wake up!" Ren wails. "I- I thought-" Despite the throbbing developing in my brain, I resist the urge to snap at him, instead bopping him lightly on the head.

"I told you I wouldn't die, didn't I?" I can feel tears soaking through my shirt.

"But you didn't wake up!" He sobs, his voice muffled and hitching with his hiccups. My eyebrows furrow together.

"What do you mean, I didn't wake up? How long was I asleep?"

"A few days." My mother looks tired, her face pale and drawn. "Three to be exact. You've been unconscious for all three days of the full moon." I muse over this.

"It sure felt longer than that." Ren looks up, his eyes red and puffy.

"What did you See?" He asks, hiccups subsiding. I think back to the visions, all the _bloodscreaminganguishdeath_ and feel the bile rise up in my throat once again.

"Hell," I whisper. "I saw hell."

~ : {TDOM} : ~

It is almost two days before I am able to tell anyone of my visions. Two days of restless sleep and visions of random skirmishes between shinobi that seem almost tame in comparison to what I had Seen, and a growing urge,_ need_, to tell someone of what I Saw. But I patiently put up with my mother's fussing and refusal to let me leave the bed before she is sure I am absolutely all right anyway.

When she hears of what I have to say though, in the safety of Ren's home, with my father, Ren's parents, Osamu-sama, Take-nii, and Ren present, she looks as if she had kept me in bed just a bit longer.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?" My father suggests hopefully. I give him a withering look ― everyone in the clan knows our dreams are hardly ever _just dreams_ unless it was a new moon, and _never_ during a full moon, much less a _ritual_ moon.

"Unfortunately, she is correct." Osamu-sama sighs. "I had a similar vision, though not quite as...detailed." He fixes me with his blind, milky gaze. "I am surprised one as young as you could see such a thing, even in your first ritual. We can expect great things from you, young one." I dip my head in acknowledgment.

"But- but- what do we do then?" Ren looks terrified. All six of us look towards Arashi-sama, Ren's father and our clan leader, for answers.

"We tell the rest of the clan of course," Arashi-sama says. "Just some of it, enough to make them aware of the situation, but not enough to make them riot. Just tell them about the Juubi's release and that will most likely be enough. Most are already uneasy from the glimpses some have caught. And Osamu and I will consult the other elders." And he strides out to call the meeting, as confident as always. Osamu-sama walks sedately after him, not in the least worried. The tense worry lines in Take-nii's face ease a little and his ice blue eyes soften a little as he looks over at me and Ren.

"Don't worry too much, Ren, Yuki. We'll figure something out." He assures us, giving us a quick grin before following Arashi-sama out of the tent.

It is somewhat comforting to know that there are some people that still won't panic, even in the face of a potential apocalypse.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

An hour after we enlighten the rest of the clan on the dire times soon to come, we are back at Ren's home. The rest of the clan are still gossiping and worrying, a thick blanket of tension weighing the air as Arashi-sama and the elders confer in the privacy of the elders' tent. I am sitting on the entrance-step of Ren's family's tent, reading, as usual. Ren is tending to his family's horses.

"Psst, Yuki, Ren!"

"No," I tell them bluntly, not looking up from my book. I am not particularly keen on getting dragged into one of their harebrained schemes and the best way to do that is to cut them off from the beginning. But Ren ― ever foolish ― stops brushing the horse and decides to ask.

"Ryou? Shou? What're you guys doing?" They perk up, grinning mischievously.

"We're gonna go spy on the elder's meeting!"

"You wanna come?"

"Why?" They huff.

"It's not fair that we don't get to decide what we're gonna do when we're the ones that are gonna have to do stuff-"

"-cuz there's no way those wrinkly old geezers-"

"-to be fair though, Chie-sama isn't really that old-"

"-are gonna get off their fat asses to actually do the dirty work."

"-but anyway, at least we can listen, right?"

"I think Take-nii is participating, so he'll fill us in anyway," Ren interjects, long since used to deciphering Ryou and Shou's overlapping language. I glance at him suspiciously over my book. I didn't know that. When had he heard that? We had been together since I told his parents of my vision.

"Yeah-" Ryou protests.

"But still-" Shou argues.

"Aren't you curious?" They chorus together.

"No." I say bluntly. They swivel towards me in simultaneous horror.

"Yuki!"

"You-"

"Are you sure you're related to us?"

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"It went on an adventure. Without me." They gasp and quickly backpedal, grabbing Ren by either arm.

"C'mon, Ren, we can't let her boringness infect you!"

"Wha- wait!" Ren yelps, dropping the curry comb as they tow him away. "Yuki, heeelllppp!"

I flip a page, ignoring him. My eyes scan over the words, but I don't really take them in. Despite what I said to Ryou and Shou, I _am_ curious. They are deciding on the fate of the world after all. But then again...how are Ryou and Shou planning to get around the silencing seals? It isn't like they can rip them off ― our silencing seals are sewn directly into our tent fabric ― or overload them ― the elders would definitely notice that. And as it is the elders' meeting tent, the seals will, no doubt be much stronger than the average seals.

Our clan, while not a shinobi clan, still practices some shinobi arts. It is a necessity. We live in a shinobi world after all, and all travellers need to have some form of protection. Most hire shinobi. Some travelling clans even learn to fight on their own.

While we do train to be able to defend ourselves, we are hardly on the level of shinobi and we know it. And that is a problem because the our kekkei genkai requires absolute secrecy ― a secrecy we cannot afford to sacrifice by even revealing ourselves to the world.

Thus, our clan developed a way to conceal and protect ourselves from shinobi, bandits, travellers and the world in general ― the art of sealing. Besides serving as our protection from the world at large, our sealing also doubled as a tool allowing us to isolate ourselves almost completely from civilization. We could store many many things in storage seals, like food, furniture and other tools, thus enabling us to only need to make contact with outside civilization only once a year.

(Though, of course, we couldn't seal away everything ― like water. It's too risky to seal away all of our water. Seals could easily be damaged, and if we lost our entire supply of water in the desert, we would be screwed. Besides, unsealing an entire barrel of water every time someone's canteen ran out was annoying.)

And of course, there were also lesser-known seals such as durability seals on most of our equipment, silencing seals on our tents, insect-repelling seals and mild protection seals on our clothes, strengthening seals on our cooking and fighting utensils.

Of course, despite the fact that we have integrated fuuinjutsu into practically every aspect of our lifestyle, not everyone in the clan is good at fuuinjutsu. Take-nii, for example, sucked, plain and simple. He had too much chakra and too little control ― a combination that had subjected him and his surroundings to numerous explosions from overloaded seals over the years. With a lot of work, perhaps one day he will be able to develop his own sealing style specifically tailored to his uncontrollable output, but for now, we must simply suffer through the explosions.

But I digress. I am not particularly keen on spying on the elders' meeting, especially if Take-nii really is there and will fill us in ― of which I had no doubt was true; Ren wasn't one to lie, after all, even if I had no idea when or where he had gotten his information ― but...I had never tried to break through silencing seals before ― I had no desire to listen to my parents after bedtime, lest I hear them doing something I would rather not hear ― so I _am_ very curious to see what Ryou, a sealing prodigy with much more experience than I, can do in such a short amount of time.

Making up my mind, I stand, picking up the comb and putting it away.

"Ren'll brush you later, 'lay?" I inform the somewhat disgruntled horse, patting it on its head. It settles down slightly, and I rush back to my tent to grab a few of my own pre-made seals. Prodigy Ryou may be, even he forgets about some crucial things when focused on one particular problem ― things like who might walk in on their little spyfest. And while some people can draw seals anywhere, and pretty quickly to boot, I am not quite up to that level yet. I am forced to rely on pre-made seals most of the time.

Surprisingly, no one is around when I arrive at the elders' tent. Ryou and Shou must have caused a distraction of some sort. Still, I take no chances, activating a few of the seals I brought to ward away any curious eyes with a trickle of chakra. I spy Ren, Ryou, and Shou crouching behind the water barrels outside the tent and make my way towards them.

"Move."

Ren shifts aside to make room, revealing a small piece of paper with a circular design inked on stuck to the tent wall. I crouch and activate another small paper seal Ryou quickly draws up for me and press my ear as close as I dare to the soft fabric, like they're doing. My eyes widen as I hear the voice of Arashi-sama calming the yelling elders. Ryou has somehow created a seal to bypass the seals around the meeting tent in the ten or so minutes I used to run back to my tent.

"How did y-"

"I'll show you later," Ryou hushes, grinning. I give him a look that tells him I will hold him to it and pull more of my seals out of my pocket. Ryou's eyes light up.

"Oh! Yuki, you're a genius!" He whispers. "These are the invisibility seals we usually surround our camp with aren't they?"

"I already put up the avoidance seals," I tell him. I had been studying the seals we always put up around our camp as of late and decided to create a smaller, simpler version of it. Avoidance seals are seals that play on people's emotions, making them uneasy whenever they get too close to the seal, thus prompting them to subconsciously avoid the seal. On the other hand, invisibility seals do exactly what their name suggests: make things invisible (and if components such as sound and scent are built into the seal, it also renders the object it is hiding unable to be heard or smelt). The only problem the invisibility seals have is how unsuitable they are for hiding live objects. The seals connect in a straight line from seal one to seal two to seal three and so forth. Anything, even a single toe, outside of the seals will not be invisible. And while that is alright if you are just hiding a plot of land, it isn't quite as good when you are trying to hide a person that can talk and move. But neither Ryou nor I had the time to fix this problem because-

"They're starting!" Shou hisses. We scramble to finish up our seals and scurry back. I press my ear against the tent again.

"-shouldn't... -at sort of impact our interference will cause? What if...makes it worse? How do we know ... -ill not cause the destruction to come sooner?" From inside the tent comes the nasally voice of Manabu-sama, one of the seven elders. Ryou frowns, muttering something about needing to work on enhancing the quality. Shou kicks him to shut him up. He scowls and pulls another slip of paper and a marker from the storage seal on his wrist.

"We have not interfered with anything as major as this in over three centuries. Do you remember our clan stories? Why we withdrew from the world in the first place? Our presence began the Warring States Period!" Leiko-sama agrees. Leiko-sama seems to be sitting closer to our position because we can hear her scratchy voice perfectly. Shou pulls back from the wall slightly.

"Are they seriously considering just _leaving_ the world to their fate?" He hisses, outraged. Ryou shushes him, his brow scrunched up in distress, his ear pressed to the fabric and eyes stuck on the developing seal in his hand. I squint at it, deciphering the various components with practiced ease, impressed by how simple he seems to have made it. I can see the seal that we are currently using ― three anchors: wind, water, and lightning, an odd combination, if effective, outside of a circle of symbols: silence, pierce, wave, listen, circle, all written in Ryou's typically messy scrawl ― but Ryou has added another three sound characters inside the circle, evenly spaced between the anchors. To add another seven characters would make the seal too powerful, alerting the elders, and even another three would be overkill, and likely still alert Junko-sama, the most sensitive to sealing chakra, but maybe one last character-

"Another wind character, you think, in the center?" I offer quietly.

"No," he murmurs distractedly. "Not wind..." I press my ear against the seal, attention split between watching the developing seal under Ryou's marker and straining to catch the soft words of Yasuo-sama, the current speaker.

"-also gave birth to peace... -nohagakure wa- "

""Got it!" I take a quick glance down, raising an eyebrow at the symbol he has chosen to place in the center ― a circle, the symbol of connection, of unity, of everything and nothing, of life and death and yin and yang. The character of eternity. It is the simplest symbol we learn, the basis of all of our seals, and I do not understand how it will work in this seal. Nevertheless, I copy the necessary adjustments onto my slip of paper and press back against the tent.

-ther villages." Ryou grins in triumph as the sounds filter through more clearly.

"And how long did that peace last?" Leiko-sama sneers. "A measly twenty years before fighting broke out again."

"It was a start. There had been no peace at all before, not since Ōtsutsuki Kaguya-hime." I can practically sense Chie-sama scowling at Leiko-sama. The two are always at odds with each other because Leiko-sama does not acknowledge Chie-sama, the youngest (at the age of thirty eight) elder, as an elder at all. Luckily though, despite Leiko-sama's views, the tradition for choosing our elders is still based on merit, not age. Chie-sama continues hotly. "Besides, our clan must have been given this gift for a reason! If not to save the world, then what else? But you sit here, arguing to leave the world to its doom-" My fingers dig into the palm of my hand at those words, remembering the blood, the _screams_-

"Enough." Osamu-sama says sternly before the argument can escalate further. "The question we should be asking is this: do we _not_ interfere, and allow the world to go to its _definite_ doom, or do we interfere and have the world come to a _possible_ doom?" There is a short silence.

"Definitely doomed or possibly doomed...When you put it that way, we do not have much choice, do we?" Junko-sama sighs softly. There is a soft round of acquiescing murmurs, and a soft "Tch!" from Leiko-sama. Shou grins. Ren and Ryou sigh in relief, and I relax my fingers.

"There is still the problem of who to send and what we should interfere with," the feeble voice of Daichi-sama says. The elders fall quiet at his voice. Daichi-sama does not talk often, but when he does, he is heard. "Most hidden villages are still mistrustful since the previous Great War and an entire new clan is very suspicious. Not to mention our skillset would be bring great risk. Uzushiogakure was destroyed for its fuuinjutsu skills alone, and many would fear what we can See. Many villages would not accept us solely because taking us in would require risking the jealousy and wrath of the other nations." There is a round of agreements.

"So going as a clan is out then. That leaves small groups, most likely for long term infiltration, possibly even for their entire lives." Arashi-sama says a tad grimly. There is another long silence at this somber announcement. I understand why. The only way we will most likely be able to change anything will be to join the villages' shinobi forces and leaving a shinobi force is typically impossible unless one is retiring or dead.

"You realize," Yasuo-sama coughs. "You realize that we will be losing our entire current younger generation for this venture?" There is a large uproar at his words and the four of us pull back to save our ears. I glance at the others. Shou looks thrilled and eager. Ryou looks torn between excitement and apprehension. Ren is pale and nervous. I myself feel a mix of all of those, but keep my face blankly calm as Ren looks to me for reassurance. We press back to the tent as the noise dies down.

"Yasuo. Explain." Arashi-sama does not sound too happy.

"The children will be the only ones who can join the shinobi forces without too much trouble." Yasuo-sama points out patiently. "Can you imagine how a kage would react to someone _my_ age wanting to join their shinobi forces?" I can see the absurdity of the thought. While Yasuo-sama is quite young for an elder ― only forty four years old ― a shinobi at his age is usually deadweight, retired, really lucky, or just dead. A person _starting_ as a shinobi at his age is just plain ridiculous. There are some grumbles of agreement.

"There are some adults that will be able to go, but we have a very limited number of people in our clan to begin with, and even fewer that can qualify to join any shinobi forces." Yasuo-sama continues calmly. "We have...six people, I believe, that are above the age of eighteen, but below the age of thirty that can go." There is a pause.

"I thought it was ten?" Chie-sama interrupts.

"Fukuyo and Aika are with child and Hyouta and Keiji will not leave them. Expectant women should not join the shinobi forces, and even after they give birth, they should not leave their children. And even if we do count them, without the children, we will still have too few people."

"Wait, which villages will we need to infiltrate?" Chie-sama asks. "There are only five main villages." Osamu-sama is the one to reply.

"The villages that play a vital role in the future war are the five great villages, as well as the samurai in the land of Iron. However Amegakure and Otogakure also play a role in the events leading up to the war." The tent falls silent.

"That's seven villages we need to infiltrate, plus the Land of Iron." Chie-sama says finally. "And the only possible candidates we can send must be under the age of thirty."

"That's fourteen viable candidates, excluding the unborn children, their mothers, and their fathers."

"We cannot afford to send only one person per village," Arashi-sama says. "Infiltrators run a high risk of death, especially in villages such as Otogakure. If one dies in there, we should have another one still in there changing things." I hear them nod.

"I believe," Daichi-sama begins. "That it would be safer and more practical to send one or both of the expectant couples to the Land of Iron. The samurai are honorable and will not attack a pregnant woman nor her child, and a couple will not attract as much suspicion as a lone man or a single mother. Hyouta and Keiji are both proficient with the sword and can still join the samurai forces." There is a round of agreement.

"So that leaves seven villages and fourteen people. Two per village?"

"Yes, I suppose," Arashi-sama sighs, resigned to the idea of the children leaving. "But none of the children will be taking the more dangerous villages. Amegakure, Otogakure, and Kirigakure will be for the adults." The elders agree.

"Kirigakure is a death sentence for kekkei genkai users though," Chie-sama says, worried. "Even though our kekkei genkai is easily hidden, the coup that overthrows the kekkei genkai hunts will be quite a few years from now. Whoever we send will have to be very careful."

"Yes," Arashi-sama admits. "I was thinking Emi-san and Hotaka-san. They work well together and are extremely cautious." Osamu-sama hums.

"Those two are probably the best. And I would suggest Katashi and Noboru for Oto, leaving Minoru and Momoe for Ame." The other elders agee.

"The other villages are all fairly safe. Konoha will be the safest." Manabu-sama tries. I hold my breath at this one. Konoha. This is the one my vision told me about. "Why don't we send the two youngest?" My stomach drops and I very nearly blanch. No, not with _Kimiko_ of all people-

"With all due respect, sir, I don't think that's a good idea." Take-nii speaks up for the first time. So he _is_ there after all. I release a short sigh of relief at having my doom delayed and glance over at Ren. Where _had_ he gotten the information?

"What do you mean, boy?" Leiko-sama asks condescendingly. "It is natural that we send the two youngest to the most peaceful village." Take-nii chuckles, unfazed by the glare she is no doubt giving him.

"Well, 'Miko and Yuki don't get along that well." _That's putting it mildly._ "That would jeopardize the mission. Yuki can probably be professional enough to complete the mission, but 'Miko needs someone that can control her. Yuki can't do that because she's younger than 'Miko and 'Miko doesn't respect her enough to listen." I make a mental note to thank Take-nii later for getting me out of what would have no doubt been a disastrous partnership.

"Then-"

"What do you propose we do then?" Chie-sama asks, curious, cutting off whatever scathing reply Leiko-sama was about to give. I sense Take-nii plastering on his typical smile and feel Leiko-sama turning purple from annoyance and rage. I snicker mentally.

"I think you should let them decide their partners and villages."

"What?" Manabu-sama says in disbelief.

"I think you should-"

"Yes, we heard you the first time," he interrupts. "But why would we let a bunch of inexperienced _children_ decide on something as important as this?"

"Well, you're sending out _children_ to do this," He points out, his tone just a bit sharper than normal, but still smiling. I feel Manabu-sama's flinch. Take-nii is _scary_ when he's angry. "So they should at least be allowed to decide on their future home and companion."

"But- but-" Manabu-sama splutters.

"You have a reason for saying that, don't you?" Arashi-sama observes.

"Mm," I sense his nod and widening grin. "I think most of us already know where we need to go." I glance over to the other three.

Most of us kids are pretty close, to the point where some of the more observant of us can just _know_ what the others are thinking. Take-nii, our overall big brother, is the most perceptive; almost to the point where it is scary. Of course, he _had_ helped raise most of us at one point or another so that probably gave him an advantage.

There is a long, contemplative silence before Arashi-sama finally says:

"We'll take your word for it then."

Ryou and Shou scramble up and begin collecting the seal slips, and Ren and I are quick to follow. Don't doubt the instincts of professionals and all that. We just make it behind another tent as the elders' tent flap lifts and Arashi-sama steps out, blinking at the darkening sky. We keep running until Shou stops at Ren's home and we all crawl in. Marii-san isn't there, probably out comforting the still-hysterical clansmen.

"So," Shou whispers after we settle in, leaning forward. His blue-gray eyes glitter in excitement. "What do you think?" Ren and I glance at each other.

"I'm nervous," I say bluntly. Shou looks almost comically surprised, but Ryou looks like he agrees. I continue before Shou can get cardiac arrest from my evident lack of enthusiasm. "I've never met anyone outside of the clan. Plus, you heard them ― we're going to be going in pairs. Our clan is too small as it is, so they'll be sending as few people as possible. That means no parents, because most of our parents are still within childbearing age, but too old to join the shinobi forces. They're going to be needed to boost our clan numbers. So we're on our own. No money, no food, no shelter. I'm seven. I can't take any missions yet, I'll still be in the Academy. Ren is still a kid too, so he can't support me. And how will we attend our rituals?"

Shou looks largely unaffected by most of my words ― he had been more-or-less taking care of himself for a while now, with some help from Ryou's family, as his parents had died of in influenza a few years back that had cut down our clan numbers by quite a margin ― but the last point had him frowning for a brief second.

"I guess we'll need to do it on our own, or sneak out then." He says, shrugging it off, unconcerned. "It's not like being in the desert is a requirement; it's mostly just tradition. All you really need is moonlight."

"I'm not going to be around when Kaa-san gives birth though," Ryou says quietly. Shou shuts up. He, more than anyone else, has been aware of how excited Ryou has been to finally have a sibling after his parents' many (failed) attempts. Ryou's mother is around six months pregnant, but, as she is nearing thirty four years old, she will not be going anywhere. Ryou is probably never going to be able to come back. He will not be able to see his little brother or sister grow up. Just like me. I am fairly certain my parents have been considering another child lately. I will not be able to see if their plans will come into fruition.

"Anyways, where are you guys going? I know Ryou and I are going to Kumo!" Shou say in an effort to distract us from our gloomy thoughts. It works. Ryou blinks at him.

"We are?" Shou nods happily.

"Don't worry, we'll get along with that rapping dude! His brother is super cool too! He just goes zoom! And it's so fast you can hardly even see it! And then stuff goes boom!"

"Rapping dude? Brother?" Ryou repeats bemusedly. Shou scratches his head.

"Visions don't give names much so..." Ryou just shakes his head.

"How do you know it's Kumo though?" I ask. Shou shrugs.

"It just is." Ryou seems to accept this. He catches my questioning gaze.

"Shou's Eye usually has a better range than mine, so if he says it's Kumo, then it's Kumo." He explains. "I always See a bunch of people though ― there's this boy with blond hair and blue eyes and then this crazy, red-headed boy in Suna I think, and a guy with _bubbles_ of all things and a guy with goggles and hair almost as light as ours and a blonde woman-"

"Was she pretty?" Shou asks immediately.

"Well-"

"Anyways," I say, giving them both a sharp look. "Ren and I will be going to Konoha."

"Konoha, huh?" Ryou muses. "That's-"

"That's pretty cool!" Shou exclaims. "You should draw on those faces they have there!" We stare at him.

"Faces?" Ren asks. He nods.

"The Hokage faces! They carve them onto the wall."

"O...kay?" Shou seems to take this as agreement because he beams and proceeds demand pictures and give suggestions.

"Guys, we should probably go tell the others what we heard," I interrupt his little lecture. "And I want to know where everyone will go." They agree, albeit with a bit of grumbling on Shou's part for interrupting him.

Before we can even get two steps though, we are halted by a loud yell.

"DIIINNNEEEERRTIIIIIMMMEEEEE!" We trade glances before turning towards the camp center as one. Dinner meant everyone would be present. And everyone's presence meant _announcements_.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

Hiro-nee and Kimiko are going to Suna. Take-nii and Aki are going to Iwa.

I frown down on my book as I ponder the rationale of these teams. Aki and Take-nii get along fairly well of course ― Take-nii gets along with practically everybody. And Hiro-nee and Kimiko are sisters so it is a given that they will work well together. But still ― I am worried.

Because for all that Take-nii gets along with everyone, Aki has always been...different. Isolated. It's a side effect, perhaps, of his father being one of the few outsiders to marry into our clan. He has never really _connected_ to anyone in the clan except for Kimiko, as odd as their friendship sometimes seemed to outsiders. For them to split up now...well. I am not sure how Aki will take it. We all know that no matter how much he might act casual in public, he really _isn't_. He is never relaxed ― only Kimiko has ever been able to coax that particular emotional state out of him. Without Kimiko around, overworking himself is a very real possibility, and merely overworking himself is only the best case scenario.

"Yuki?" I flinch, not having sensed Ren come up. "Can I...can I talk to you?"

_That_ gets my attention. Ren isn't shouting or babbling a mile a minute. He's not even trying to steal my food, despite the fact that I had gotten extra mochi from Kaa-san, and that's never a good sign. He's quiet, fidgeting slightly, and staring at his shoes, his fingers tugging nervously on the hem of his shirt.

But it's his eyes right now that catch my attention ― a whirlwind of dark, midnight-blue and grey, with hints of indigo-purple fire and a touch of sapphire. I put down my book, beckoning him inside my family's tent. Whatever he wants to talk about is obviously not for prying ears.

Once inside, we sit. I grab some tea for the both of us, knowing whatever this was about might take a while. Ren rarely got all serious like this after all ― the last time he had, it was because I had snapped and run away from the campsite after a particularly bad set of nightmare-visions and he had been the one that had confronted me.

"I figured," he says after a while, nursing his tea, "that since it's pretty much confirmed that we're gonna be in Konoha together for the rest of our lives, that I should tell you about my Eye." I blink.

It wasn't like it was unusual not to tell others about your Eye ― our visions were typically not something we wanted to discuss. But we usually never made a big deal out of keeping it a secret either. So this didn't seem to be as big of a deal as he was making it out to be but...had Ren never told anyone about his Eye before?

"My eye," Ren clears his throat. "It's a Clan Eye." I nod, wondering if I should be saying something supportive.

A Clan Eye was basically a term for an Eye that focused on a single clan or several particularly-intertwined clans. There were several other terms, like Village Eyes, for those Eyes that focused on a specific or several villages, and Area Eyes, for Eyes that Saw only a certain area or areas. Clan Eyes weren't unusual, even if they were hardly as numerous as Area Eyes. So why was Ren so nervous? Did his Eye focus on a really tiny, unimportant clan or had his clan been massacred or something (thus rendering his Eye blind)?

"And...uh, my Eye," Ren blurts. "It focuses on _our_ clan."

I blink. And then I blink again, tilting my head slightly as I consider this. That...would certainly explain a lot: how he had known Take-nii would be in the elders' meeting, why he had been so worried about my first ritual, all those times he has found me when I really didn't want to be found, and how he has knows as much about everyone in the clan as Take-nii, who is training to be the clan leader and _needs_ to know everything about everyone.

But it's still not as big of a deal as he's making it out to be. So:

"Okay," I say calmly, taking a sip of tea.

His head snaps up. "Okay?" He echoes in disbelief. I blink at him quizzically.

"Yeah. Okay."

"So, you're _okay_ with the fact that I know probably stuff about you that you probably don't anyone to know?" He demands. "You're _okay_ with the fact that I practically _spy_ on you without your knowledge and consent _every night_ like some sort of _stalker_ and I know your sleeping habits and that you actually have a _secret storage seal_ inked into the design of your favorite hair-tie and that you hum in the shower and- and I probably know your parents better than _you _do! And you're just _okay_ with that?"

I blink at the abrupt flood of words, but I answer accordingly. This is the sort of Ren I am more familiar with after all ― babbling too much and too quickly for most people to understand.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

He chokes. For a moment, I wonder if I need to thump him on the back.

I could see where he was coming from of course ― most people would be upset about knowing their privacy is, in fact, not quite so private. Certainly, this will be much more disturbing when I hit puberty and therefore the stage in life where I am considered too old to take bubble baths, naked, with both Kimiko and Aki and instead graduate to taking normal baths with just Kimiko (water is a precious commodity, especially when we are in the desert, so most people in our clan take joint baths). But-

"We live in a clan of stalkers after all," I continue reasonably. He chokes again at the blunt assessment and I wait, again, patiently. "I think it'd be pretty hypocritical of me to condemn you for spying on me-"

"On the clan," he corrects hastily. "I just used you as an example. I don't actually spy on you every night."

"Glad to hear it," I tell him dryly. "But it would still be hypocritical of me since the only difference between our spying habits is that I spy on people I don't know."

He smiles weakly.

"Besides," I say, gaze drifting down to stare at my tea blankly. "There are worse things to be able to See than our clan." The echoes of screams and fire ring in my ears and I can taste ash in my mouth even as I blink and the cup in my white-knuckled grip reasserts itself in reality.

There are worse things to be able to See than our clan.

"You got that little brother you were hoping for you know." I jerk my head up to stare in wide-eyed shock at Ren before I can even think about it.

"_What?_"

"That little brother you were hoping for." Ren blinks back at me evenly, knowing exactly what I had been thinking about and knowing that his news would be more than enough to snap me out of it.

I open my mouth and close it. I want to deny his words ― deny that I had been _hoping_ for anything because it would make it seem like I _cared_, and I generally liked to pretend I didn't; I had had numerous visions, even before my first ritual, of people who had lost someone; enough for me to be wary of ever acting like I cared ― but-

But this is my little brother.

"What was he like?" I blurt out before I can really censor myself and I flush. Ren smiles knowingly, but doesn't comment.

"They named him Ryuuki, after your dad. Plus because it sounds kinda like your name I think. He was a pretty cute baby, but all babies are cute, so that doesn't really mean much. He had silvery white hair like you and your mom instead of just normal white hair like most of the rest of us in the clan. And his eyes-" Here, he pauses, as if confused by how to describe them. "Well, they were blue, like the rest of us, but they weren't as dark as yours or as light as Kimiko's. Somewhere in between I guess." I raise an eyebrow. The difference between my midnight blue and Kimiko's pale, almost colorless blue _is_ rather vast after all. Ren grins sheepishly, but continues.

"And he was happy all the time, so I don't know what his Eye was, but I don't think it was too scary cuz he never woke up crying or screaming or anything like that..."

And as I listen to Ren describe the child in his visions, I think wistfully, just for a moment, that, powerful though it is, I would trade my Eye for his in a heartbeat if I could See this brother I will never meet like he can.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

"We can't use birds! Letters can be intercepted and it'll be too suspicious if they're caught sending letters to someone outside of their village! And meeting face to face is too risky, not to mention time-consuming!"

I lean against a wagon at the edge of the campfire, bored and fiddling with the fuuinjutsu scroll I am holding, as I watch the debate that is turning more into an argument with each passing second. I could care less how we were going to communicate. While it is a valid concern for most of the infiltrators/soon-to-be saviors/people leaving, and I can see the necessity of having information, it doesn't change the fact that most, if not all, of the...venturers...know what they need to do and will know if they do something wrong, so we have no need of a control center or anything.

As for the emotional comfort a means of communication will bring...well, it would be nice to hear from my parents. And Take-nii and Ryou and Shou and Hiro-nee. Maybe even Aki. Not that I was going to say any of that aloud.

I know, however, that I would be more worried ― though I would never be as _vocal_ about it ― if I hadn't had Ren ― who will be able to tell me everything going on in our clan ― coming with me. So I stay quiet.

"How 'bout scrying?" I blink and begin listening. Now_ that_ was something new.

"Does that even work?" Someone asks.

"Isn't that just something fake fortune tellers do in stories?" Take-nii, the person who suggested it, shrugs and rubs his neck sheepishly.

"I dunno, I was remembering one of our old stories, of the person with the first Eye, how she could project her Eye into a bowl of water or something. I figured that maybe we can try doing more than just projecting our Eye, ya know?"" They all fall silent.

"If...that can work, that would be perfect."

There is a heartbeat of stillness before people rush off, presumably to get bowls and water. I myself am skeptical ― stories are stories after all. But it is a mark of how desperate we are, that we are resorted to grasping feeble methods from myths that probably aren't even true.

People come back, sure enough, holding bowls and water, or in some cases, oil. I watch with clinical interest as they bend over them to...well, I'm not quite sure. Personally, I think that if we could see things in water or oil, we would have known already. I glance over to my right, and see Ren staring avidly into a bowl of water, his brow scrunched up in concentration. I stifle a snicker. It is always interesting to watch people make a fool of themselves.

There is an abrupt cracking noise, and everyone looks up as Take-nii's bowl shatters, and water cascades over his pants.

"Ah, I figured we should try adding chakra or something," He grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. People look amused ― only Take-nii can break a bowl like he does; all bowls we use have strengthening and durability seals inked on them.

I sit up at that thought.

_Seals._

Of course.

I shake my head as I look around for Ryou, our resident sealing prodigy. How is it that a clan that specializes in fuuinjutsu doesn't think of seals at all when faced with a problem? We are taught from _birth_ that fuuinjutsu can overcome any problem.

I finally spy Ryou sharing a bowl with Shou. From the looks on their faces, they are also trying Take-nii's method of inserting chakra in the water. I make my way towards them.

"Ryou," Both Ryou and Shou look up. "Transportation seals." They look puzzled for a moment before Ryou's eyes light up in understanding and he leaps to his feet, bowl clattering to the ground. Everyone looks over.

"Yuki, you really are a genius!" He says gleefully. And he rushes off, leaving me to deal with the questioning stares of the rest of the clan.

I explain in my typical concise manner: "Transportation seals to send packages and letters."

I rather enjoy the gobsmacked looks. Really, how did no one think of this? Isolated though we were, we still took care not to inbreed...

I shake that thought out of my head. It is too disturbing to think about.

Either way, now that a solution has been found, and Ryou is evidently working on it, people decide to tackle another issue ― our cover story. I groan internally. Many of our clan are as adept at making up (believable) stories as they are at taijutsu ― which is to say, just barely passable. (To be fair though, taijutsu is hard to learn from scrolls, and the battles we Saw were generally too fast for us to observe specific stances and such.)

I leave. Ren would tell me what our story was anyway, and if I didn't like it, I would just make a new one. Reading all those books ― many about shinobi infiltrating this or that place ― can come in handy sometimes. I can think of a couple somewhat-believable lies off the top of my head.

Ryou does not look up as I enter.

"Need help?" I offer. He nods absently, tapping his pencil on his chin.

"There are too many variables and methods. Should I make a replicate appear at point B? That's hard though, especially over large distances, and stupid, and too chakra-consuming. Only Take-nii would be able to pull that off. I prefer teleporting. But how do I move the object from point A to point B without it flying through the air and giving people a chance to intercept it? Instantaneously to boot. And we can't exactly leave the package lying out in the open either, so maybe a modified storage seal? And then there's the matter of specifying where we want to send it..."

I smirk, digging in my pocket for my 'Library' scroll. Ryou really needed to study more, because I had already thought of answers to most of those. How to actually put it together would be Ryou's task ― he was good at that after all. I unseal one of the more advanced books I had for light reading and plop it down in front of him, interrupting his musing. He peers down at it.

"Space-ti- Oh!" He glances over at me appreciatively. "You really are a genius, Yuki."

"I just read more." I say, waving him off dismissively. I tap the book. "If you can build a space-time seal into an average blood-locked storage seal then that should solve the how, and I figure we can try building different signatures into the seals we give the others, and we'll just write that signature onto whatever we want to send, and it'll show up at their seal when we activate it. Or, if we can't do that, then I suppose we can just have a storage seal sort of thing that can be accessed from multiple places and we can dump all of our letters there and let the everyone find the packages addressed to them on their own. I prefer having seal signatures though." He grins, a familiar spark in his eye.

"Got it. Thanks, Yuki!" I hum in acknowledgement, sitting down across from him to work on the signatures.

Now then, how to create a seal signature...?

~ : {TDOM} : ~

A week later, we are all gathered again at the edge of the camp. This time, however, it is to say goodbye. We had decided it would probably be better if we left separately. Kimiko and Hiro-nee are leaving first for Sunagakure, as it is the closest village.

We knew that rumors would fly if a bunch of white haired people ― our white hair is pretty distinctive after all ― suddenly showed up in the villages all at once, so some had also opted to dye their hair with herbs and seals (disguised as birthmarks, tattooed onto their skin) that would keep the hair the same color as it grows. Our blue eyes are less distinctive though, because we have all shades of blue, from the dark blue of a starless night sky, like mine, to the pale, nearly-colorless blues of Hiro-nee and Kimiko, so none of us had bothered with contacts. Eye colors were harder to change (permanently) anyway.

Either way, Hiro-nee is now a brunette and Kimiko a fairer, bordering on blonde, version of her. With her hair pulled up in its typical, messy, no-nonsense bun, muscular body, tanned skin, and calloused hands, Hiro-nee looks like a typical, nondescript farm girl, and Kimiko her sweet little sister. Which is their cover ― their farm, located at the edge of Kawa no Kuni, burned down, taking their parents with it, and Sunagakure offered more opportunities than Tanigakure, so they hitched a ride with a passing merchant (they were armed with several mind-altering seals to get the merchant to agree with their story when they caught up with him in the desert).

After this, we will travel to the Earth country and send Aki and Take-nii on their way. Aki's hair is now a darker, browner, shade of his original pale blond ― another reason for his isolation: he just _looked_ different, even if his hair really only held slightly more color than the rest of ours ― but Take-nii has decided to keep his hair the same. They will not be posing as siblings, or even people that know each other, actually. Aki, unlike Kimiko, is rather independent and can take care of himself (or so he claims ― unfortunately I know him well enough to know that the reason he's so stick-thin is not because his mother, Asami-sensei, is thin, but because he forgets to eat when he studies), and so will be an orphan that headed to Iwa when his family died in the influenza that is currently hitting the Rock country. He will blend right in with all the other orphans. Take-nii, on the other hand, will make a name for himself as a bounty hunter, and will not enter Iwagakure until almost a year later, when Iwa decides to recruit young and promising bounty hunters to bolster their ranks after the influenza's decimation.

After that will be the Fire country. Ren has dyed his hair a golden yellow, though a bit darker than the boy in my vision, but I hadn't bothered ― mostly because I am extremely fond of my silvery white hair. Besides, the Fire country seemed to house many people with strange hair colors anyway (because, seriously, _pink?_). Our cover story is the simplest, and the bloodiest. We are first heading to a small, nondescript fishing village on the coast. Ren and I will be the only survivors of the massacre of that tiny fishing village when it is attacked by a particularly vicious bandit group in a few months' time, and will go to Konoha with the shinobi sent to investigate.

Ryou and Shou will be the last of the children to leave and Ryou is hoping that their departure will be delayed long enough for him to see the birth of his little brother. There is a chance that he will get his wish, because their cover story will require going in the winter, and it is summer at the moment. Their story is that their family was immigrating from a small village in Shimo no Kuni to Kumogakure due to economic difficulties, as many will be doing, but were caught in that large, unexpected blizzard on the way. They will merely be two of many, as both Kumogakure and Shimogakure will be receiving a large influx of orphans and starving people at the same time.

Neither Ryou nor Shou have dyed their hair either, though not for the lack of want. Shou originally wanted to dye his hair a ludicrous, eye-watering shade of scarlet. Ryou eventually persuaded him not to ― they were posing as twins (or cousins that were raised as twins if Kumo decides to take blood tests, since that is practically the truth anyway. Even if Kumo doesn't take blood tests, they're similar enough to pull it off ― the only physical difference between the two is that Ryou has steel-blue eyes while Shou's are a lighter, blue-gray), and one twin with white hair while the other had red was plain ridiculous. Not to mention red would stand out in Kumo while white would not ― easier to play pranks and all if you don't have a beacon on your head. The last bit was probably what made Shou back down, if reluctantly.

My mouth tilts down as this all begins to sink in. We are really going. Leaving. Never coming back. This will likely be the last time I ever see Hiro-nee again unless they come to Konoha or something for missions. Kimiko too, though that wasn't too big of a loss. But still-

A large hand drops on my head, and I look up to see Hiro-nee smiling down at me.

"Don't make such a long face, Yuki-chan," she says cheerfully. "It's not like we'll never see each other again. The world's a pretty small place after all." My lips quirk wryly before I quickly wipe it off. Typical Hiro-nee, comforting others when she is the one leaving.

"I am not making a long face," I tell her, unable to quite get the tiny indignant note out of my voice. "And who'd miss Kimiko anyway?" But I don't knock her hand off my head. She grins and ruffles my hair.

"See ya then." She hoists the small pack containing the few possessions we had deemed safe enough for her to keep. Most of us will not be able to bring many things with us, as we are trying not to stand out too much in the beginning. Seals are more-or-less off limits ― not that I was planning to leave my sealing library behind. It didn't matter if I would never be allowed to use it ― I never went anywhere without my library. It would be a cold day in hell when I let go of it.

"Bye," I say quietly.

And we all watch as the two of them walk away, Kimiko walking backwards and waving at Aki until they disappear behind the sand dunes.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

"You'll be careful, won't you?" Ami-baachan seems unable to to stop crying. Take-nii smiles down at her gently.

"Hai, Kaa-chan," He says patiently. Beside him, Aki's goodbyes are much less heartrending.

"I'll be seeing you then, Haha-ue, Chichi-ue" Aki says plainly.

Aki and his parents...weren't very close. From what I had got from Kimiko's rants, his mother had constantly been after him to improve fuuinjutsu skills, despite the fact that he was already considered one of the best in our generation. She had never seemed to get that her boy just wasn't a natural prodigy like Ryou. His father was about the same ― pushing and pushing, constantly telling him to improve, to work harder, wanting him to aim for the position of clan heir. Kimiko had often fumed about their harsh words and lack of any positive support. I fairly certain that Aki is _glad_ to be going.

Aki turns to Take-nii. "I'll be going on ahead, Takeshi-nii."

"'Kay," Take-nii says, patting Ami-baachan on the back. And Aki walks away without ever looking back. The only people he would ever consider turning back and waving for had long since left in Kaze no Kuni.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

And, all too soon, it is our turn.

"Be careful, okay Yuki?" My mother fusses. I patiently put up with it, knowing this will be the last time she can do this to me. She clutches me tightly, her eyes watery. "My little baby's leaving me," she sniffles. I gently pry her off and turn to my father. He engulfs me in a hug.

"Tell me if there are any boys going after you, alright?" He lectures, his eyes suspiciously bright. "I'll find some way to kick their asses." I roll my eyes, unable to stop my lips from quirking up in a tiny smile.

"Remember to send us the pictures, alright?" Shou reminds us, biting his lip in a futile attempt to stop the almost comical cascade of tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Good luck, Yuki," Ryou murmurs, hugging me tightly, looking like he is blinking back tears himself. I fleetingly think that, if it weren't for the situation, I would never allow all these hugs.

Finally, we are ready to leave, everything we want to bring sealed away. I feel a pang as we walk away, and glance over at Ren. He is surprisingly composed, and I turn and catch one last glimpse of my waving parents standing beside a stoic Arashi-sama and motionless Marii-san before we vanish into the forest that borders the fishing village. Ren never looks back.

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><p><strong>Reference:<strong>

The Elders (Eldest to Youngest)

Osamu

Daichi

Manabu

Leiko

Junko

Yasuo

Chie

The Children (Youngest to Eldest)

Name: Miyuki 実雪 (True Snow) aka "Yuki"  
>Age: 7<br>Looks: long, loose, waist-length, silvery white hair with bangs; deep blue eyes, like a starless night sky; pale skin  
>Parents: Tatsuo (竜夫: "Dragon Man") and Setsuna (雪凪: "Calm Snow")<br>Notes: Soon-to-be-older sister of not-yet-born Ryuuki (龍騎: "Dragon Rider")

Name: Kimiko 后子 (Empress Child) aka "Miko"  
>Age: 8<br>Looks: short, neck length, white hair with bangs (think Shiemi's hairstyle from Ao no Exorcist); pale blue eyes; pale-pinkish, somewhat freckled skin  
>Parents: Takumi (匠: "Artisan") and Chouko (蝶子: "Butterfly Child")<br>Notes: Younger sister of Hiroko; takes after her mother

Name: Akihiro 明彦 (Bright Prince) aka "Aki"  
>Age: 9<br>Looks: neat, short, platinum blonde hair; clear, azure eyes; milky skin  
>Parents: Akifumi (明史: "bright history") and Asami (麻美: "morning beauty")<br>Notes: His mother is the fuuinjutsu instructor for all of the clan children. His father is an outsider that married into the clan.

Name: Ren 蓮 (Lotus)  
>Age: 11<br>Looks: short-medium length, albino hair (think Kise's hairstyle from Kuroko no Basuke); clear, sea blue eyes that lighten when he laughs or is happy, and darkens into stormy blue when he's angry; fair skin  
>Parents: Arashi (嵐: "Storm") and Marii (真理: "Truth")<br>Notes: Only child of clan leader

Name: Ryousuke 良介 (Good Forerunner/Herald) aka "Ryou"  
>Age: 14<br>Looks: messy (but not completely untameable like Shou) white hair; steel-blue eyes; fair skin  
>Parents: Yoshirou (義郎: "righteous son") and Ume (梅: "plum")<br>Notes: Cousin of Shouta through father; soon-to-be-older-brother of the not-yet-born twins Saki (咲希: "Blossom of Hope") and Seki (関: "Barrier/Gate")

Name: Shouta 翔太 (Fly/Soar, Thick/Big) aka "Shou"  
>Age: 14<br>Looks: flyaway, untameable, white hair; playful, blue gray eyes; fair skin  
>Parents: (Both Deceased)<br>Notes: Cousin of Ryousuke through father

Name: Hiroko 寛子 (Tolerant/Generous Child) aka "Hiro-nee"  
>Age: 15<br>Looks: just below average height; shoulder-length, grayish white hair usually in a no nonsense bun; somewhat tanned skin, pale blue eyes like Kimiko; rather muscular for a girl  
>Parents: Takumi (匠: "artisan") and Chouko (蝶子: " butterfly child")<br>Notes: Kimiko's older sister; takes after her father

Name: Takeshi 武 (Warrior/Unbending Like A Bamboo Tree) aka "Take-nii"  
>Age: 17<br>Looks: short, cropped white hair; light, electric blue eyes; somewhat tanned skin; moderately tall, lean and muscled structure  
>Parents: (Father: Deceased) and Ami (亜美: "second, Asia; beautiful")<br>Notes: Clan heir

* * *

><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

Edited: 8/19/2015


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

><p><strong>General Warnings:<strong> AU (later on), (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>And the rating has been bumped up to M...

* * *

><p><span><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

I lean against a tree, keeping an eye on Ren over my book as he laughs and plays with the village children.

We had been in Manchō Village ― it was what they called their village apparently, because of the strong tides that beat against their shore at all except certain times of the day ― for almost a month already.

We had been accepted quicker and more easily than I had expected ― small villages like this one were generally very tight-knit and loath to accept strangers. But instead, it had only taken around a week for us to be accepted; Ren as "that cheerful and ever-so-helpful little boy", and me as his "quiet little sister." (I had no idea how they had gotten the idea that I was his sister though ― we were planning to just be childhood friends when we got to Konoha.)

"Hey, Miyuki-chan, play with us!" I glance over and see Naoki, one of the village children, looking up at me with the biggest pair of puppy eyes I had ever seen. Ryou and Shou's pathetic attempts at puppy eyes had _nothing_ on the real thing.

"Please?" Naoki pleads, and his eyes get _bigger_ ― something I hadn't thought _possible_. Were human eyes _supposed_ to be that big? "More people is more fun!"

I glare for a moment, and ― to my horror ― he starts _tearing up_. I curse my utter lack of immunity to puppy eyes, before putting down my book with a sigh. He beams. I grumble inwardly. I blamed Ren for this ― he had been the one that told them to ignore my glares, that I was always like that, but that I was a "real softie" underneath. Which was completely untrue, and I would prove it if it weren't for the fact that the last time I had tried, all of the children had adopted such wounded looks, like injured kittens, that I couldn't help but feel like an ass and agree. Of course, I had regretted it when they had done a complete one-eighty and dragged me off on a wild goose chase for a lost hairclip disguised as a "treasure hunt."

"What are we playing this time?" I sigh, resigned to my fate.

"Hide-and-seek!" He chirps, tugging me over to the circle of children. Ren grins at me and I scowl at him as I seal away my book so it won't be damaged. That was another thing we hadn't bothered hiding ― our fuuinjutsu skills. The villagers had all been fascinated, but had left it alone when we had said (truthfully) that it was something our parents had taught us ― they were under the impression that our family had abandoned us and so, was a touchy subject.

"Alright," I say exasperatedly. "Let's get this over with." Naoki tosses the handmade dice ― the person with the lowest number would be it. As there are three die, the lowest number would be three and the highest eighteen.

Seven. Naoki pouts, passing the die to Atsuko. She tosses.

Twelve. One by one, we all take turns tossing.

Eight.

Fifteen.

Five.

Thirteen.

My turn. I stare down at my number. A three.

"Run!" Atsuko squeals, and all of them take off. Sighing, I close my eyes and begin the countdown.

"...Three...two...one." I open my eyes and look around. Not a kid in sight. Sighing again, I trot towards the nearest tree, peering behind and doing a quick scan. Nope.

I pause as I feel an uneasy prickle in the back of my head.

One of the biggest benefits of having an All-Seeing Eye like mine, is, while it will never be able to focus on one single place, person, thing, or clan (meaning I will always have to guess where and when my current vision is taking place) and will be much harder to control when I begin trying to tame it, it is a magnificent danger-sensor. Most All-Seeing Eyes enjoyed honing in on danger and misfortune, and (usually after the first ritual) had their power manifest in the conscious mind as...well, really good gut instincts.

And now the alarms were blaring. Which meant...

Well, there is only one danger that can make my instincts go off like this in this sleepy little village. Isn't that bandit group expected to come at around this time?

My eyes harden as I go to the next bush and peer around, keeping up the pretense.

From the glimpses my Eye had caught in my more recent visions, the bandits had attacked when the sky was dark, and all the lights had been put out.

Tonight then. My pace quickens, and I cheat a bit, inhaling and exhaling slowly, focusing on one of the lesser shinobi arts our clan practiced ― chakra sensing. I am crap with it usually, only able to distinguish signatures when they are a few feet away, but I only have to focus on my immediate surroundings right now, and that isn't too hard when the only chakra signatures around are the chakra signatures I am looking for. I quickly 'find' the kids and send them off and make my way to Ren's hiding place.

"Ren!" I hiss after making sure we are alone. He spins around.

"Ah, you found-" His smile falters as he catches sight of my face. Words are unnecessary. He pales. "Tonight?" I nod.

"Do...do you think-"

"No." I cut him off.

"But-"

"No, Ren. We can't save any of them."

"But they're-" I glare at him.

"I warned you not to get too attached Ren." I say coldly, ignoring the wrenching ache in my own stomach even as I think of leaving Naoki ― who is only _five_ (almost six, as he enjoys reminding us proudly), who should have _decades_ more to look forward to, who shouldn't have to have his life cut short because a group of sick bastards wanted to stoke their egos by massacring a village that had nothing worth robbing in the first place ― and all the others to die. "We can't-" I stop talking abruptly as I sense someone coming within hearing distance. I wipe my face to its usual blank mask, and Ren plasters on his long-perfected smile as Naoki stumbles in.

"Miyuki-chan!" He pouts. "You took so long that everyone gave up and went home!"

"Ah, gomen," I say flatly. "Ren was really hard to find."

'Nao-kun! Time for lunch!" The faint voice of Naoki's mother drifts to our spot. Naoki grins.

"Ren's gonna be the It tomorrow cuz he was the last one to be found!" He tosses over his shoulder as he scampers off. "Don't forget!"

"Okay!" Ren calls, keeping his voice light. We watch him disappear into the brush and Ren's face crumples. I swallow the sudden lump in my throat.

We both know there won't be a tomorrow for them.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

"Ren!" I scream, ignoring the gagging smoke that clogs my lungs with every inhale. "REN!" I curse, coughing. That _idiot_.

Ren had run back as soon as we heard the first crashes and screams. I had made to follow, but he had longer legs, and I had been forced to backtrack and take a roundabout way to avoid running into some of the bandits. And now I stand in the midst of the burning village, unsure of where Ren is, or if he is even alive.

_Calm down,_ I tell myself. _You will not be able to do anything without a clear head._ I inhale, ignoring the searing heat, and exhale. Right. Think.

There is no way no way I can devise a seal to locate him quickly enough, even if I had the time to unseal a pen and marker from the tiny seal disguised as a birthmark on the inside of my forearm.

Chakra sensing is out. As familiar as I am with Ren's chakra signature, picking it out from amongst the crowd of bandits and villagers is too hard, if not impossible with my skills.

Then, that leaves my Eye.

Forcibly calming myself down, I pray to Tsukuyomi-sama for this to work before slipping into a semi-haze of meditation and open my Eye a fraction.

Images immediately bombard me.

_Green vested shinobi flashing through the trees, smoke rising lazily in the morning sky overhead, smoldering ruins, the wind gently scattering the ashes, body after body pulled out of the wreckage..._

Focus, I tell myself. I am looking for Ren. I had listened in on Ren's Eye taming sessions many times before our departure; I knew what to do. Theoretically. I can hear Yasuo-sama in my head, telling me (or rather, Ren) what to do.

"_Seeing the present ― or, more accurately, a few seconds or minutes in the future ― does not expend as much chakra as the future. So, to start, withdraw your chakra to the tiniest trickle. Yes, just like that. Now, remember to maintain that trickle at just that amount, or you will lose control again." _

I concentrate, ignoring the jumble of images flashing by my eyes, and slowly, they get more recent.

_Bandits leaving, a child's body half out of the door, people slaughtered, blood, screaming, a bloody knife, Ren and Naoki running through the flames, a shadow behind them, Ren sprinting through Naoki's burning house, Naoki cowering under the bed, the bandits _just_ missing him..._

I draw myself out of the confusing tangle of images and break out of the haze, falling to my knees, gasping harshly.

My Eye is harder to control than I had thought. But I got what I wanted.

I stagger to my feet and take a step, only for my leg to give out under me. I grit my teeth as my vision swims in and out of focus.

Shit.

I know that controlling the Eye requires more chakra than simply Seeing. That is why children began with Seeing the present: it used the least amount of chakra, and thus held the least amount of risk. I know that without long and rigorous training, it is hard to control the flow of chakra used to actually control the Eye. So, until the user learns how to regulate the amount of chakra used to control the Eye, the Eye simply drains large amounts of chakra from the body, resulting in chakra depletion (and the extreme fatigue, loss of energy, and throbbing muscles that comes with chakra depletion) and eventually, death.

Now I knew why our clan waited until after the second ritual ― and a whole slew of chakra control classes ― to begin training to control it. The fact that I am getting oxygen deprived likely isn't helping my case.

I lay there for a few minutes, gasping and seeing if it will pass, before concluding it won't and pushing myself back to my knees. I manage to crawl a few steps before the world sways dangerously, but I force myself to take another step, and then another. I need to get to Ren.

Ren.

_Ren._ Thinking about him brings one particular image drifting hazily to the forefront of my mind.

_Running through the flames. A shadow looming above him._

_Shit._ I lurch to my feet, a surge of adrenaline pushing away the fog clouding my mind, as a heavy, foreboding feeling settles in the bottom of my stomach. I stumble as fast as I can towards the place I know he will be.

"Let go of him!"

My eyes widen and and I move faster. That is Ren's voice.

I arrive on scene just in time to watch a bandit hold the bloody knife of my vision to Naoki's throat. Naoki's face is pale and terrified and Ren is red with fury and helplessness, his arms restrained by a second bandit while a third snickers cruelly. Dark liquid trickles from his numerous lacerations, some deeper and evidently made by a knife. I watch with wide eyes, almost in a trance, as a droplet of blood slides down his face and splashes to the ground.

A surge of fury hits me hard enough to make me choke, and reddish tinge highlights everything. All I can think is that Ren is bleeding, Ren is _hurt, and it's all their fault how_dare_theytouchhim_.

I know they haven't seen me yet. I know the only thing keeping Ren from truly fighting is the knife at Naoki's throat. I know there is no way Ren would be held like that otherwise ― the grip the bandit has on him is inexperienced and easy to break if you know how, and both of us have long since mastered the basics of fighting.

I grab a nearby stone ― once a door stopper for one of the storekeepers ― and fling it at the bandit holding Naoki, forcibly dredging up a bit of chakra into my arms to boost my strength. It hits dead on and I hear a satisfying crunch and yell of pain even as I hurl forward, knowing that, with my height (or lack of thereof), the element of surprise is all I have on my side. I briefly take note of Ren taking the chance to elbow his surprised bandit in the face, and Naoki scrambling out of the way of his temporarily stunned bandit out of the corner of my eye, before tackling the third bandit to the ground through sheer momentum.

He hits the ground with a strangled gasp as I crush all the air out of his lungs with my weight. I jab him in the throat hard enough to crush his windpipe, and viciously sock him in the jaw for good measure. I don't bother wasting time checking if he will get up again ― he won't be going anywhere with that throat, even if he _is_ still conscious after the punch ― spinning and flying past Naoki to deal with the no-longer-stunned bandit, who, clutching his broken nose, has gone for his dropped knife.

I tackle the bandit just as he grasps his knife, and knock us both to the ground. The knife rips a long gash down my arm as I slam the hand to the ground, but I don't feel it, mercilessly crushing his fragile wrist bones under my elbow with a sickening snapping sound and forcing him to let for of the knife. The bandit howls in pain and takes a wild swing at me with his other arm. Stars explode in my eyes and I barely even notice that the bandit had managed to knock me off him with that swing as I grit my teeth, biting my tongue to keep from screaming. I pull myself back to my feet, blinking away the encroaching darkness and turn to face the bandit again. He cradles his wrist in his hand, glaring at me. I glare back, refusing to show my dizziness, even as I wipe away the dark liquid trickling from the side of my head so it doesn't obstruct my vision.

Behind me, Ren has managed to knock out his bandit with a well aimed kick to the shin and knock over the head when the bandit stumbled. He steps up beside me, and the remaining bandit hesitates, cradling his wrist, glancing at his two downed comrades. He evidently doesn't want to risk it ― not when we have already proven ourselves capable of taking down his friends. He turns tail and flees. I wait a moment to make sure he has really gone before stating brusquely:

"Come on. We've got to move." Ren hesitates, glancing at a trembling Naoki before looking at me as I move past him.

"What about-"

"Do whatever you want." I say harshly, moving ahead to find a safe path. I know I am in no condition to argue ― the only thing keeping me on my feet is the adrenaline still running through my veins ― and even if I was, we had no time. The fire was spreading, we were fast running out of oxygen, and soon there would be no safe path left.

As if to reflect my thoughts, the burning house beside us crackles and crumbles, timbers and flames flying. Ren wastes no more time, dragging Naoki to his feet and hurrying after me. We make it to the edge of the village, a few meters away from the border of the treeline, before I stagger.

"Yuki!" Ren rushes to support me.

"I'm fine," I say harshly. "It's just the smoke getting to me." I know this is a pathetic lie ― they had inhaled more smoke than I had after all. Ren purses his lips in worry, eyeing the wound on my head, but he doesn't say anything more. I look up at the sky. It is almost dawn ― the shinobi would be here soon. I stiffen as my danger senses blare again and look up just in time to watch an entire group of bandits emerge from the forest.

"There they are! Those brats!" An unpleasantly familiar bandit sniffles, still cradling his wrist, his nose a satisfyingly bloody, purplish bruise.

Shit.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" A bandit, the obvious leader, hollers menacingly. "I said I wanted no survivors didn't I? Can't have someone able to identify us!" The bandits all yell in agreement, leering menacingly at us. My eyes scan the group. There are around fifteen of them ― too many for us to fight.

"Run," I murmur to Ren, taking a step back. We turn heel and flee ― right back into the burning village. Behind us, the leader hoots in amusement and yells orders.

"Half of you, go after them, flush them out! You, go get the idiots counting the loot. There's hardly any loot anyway, they should be done by now. The rest of you surround the village and holler if you see them!" My stomach drops as I hear this. There will be nowhere to run now. Staying in Manchō Village will be hard, if not impossible. But running to the ocean would be suicide, because the tide is too strong for us to even try swimming.

I glance up at the sky again, the dark grey smoke standing out starkly against the pinkening sky. About two hours until shinobi come to investigate.

I press my lips together tightly. We can survive two hours. I will make sure of it.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

I rest my forehead against the ground as I gasp for breath, trying to stop my vision from spinning. Ren kneels beside me, looking helpless. Naoki stands behind us uncertainly, eyes darting back and forth, watching for bandits.

"The seals I drew won't last much longer," I rasp out. I had used my blood (for easier chakra conduction) to draw a crude avoidance seal ― nowhere near as elegant or intricate as the ones I had used when we were spying on the elders ― on each of our arms. It had worked for the most part, making the bandits feel uneasy whenever they approached wherever we were hiding and thus avoid our area, but we had been forced to move around to prevent them from accidentally spotting us, which would negate the seals, when a house collapsed and could no longer hide us ― avoidance seals wouldn't work on someone who knew where you were after all, and invisibility seals still took me hours to draw, with my current skill level. But the blood had quickly begun drying and flaking due to the dry heat of the flames and our constant movements, and now they were all but gone.

"It's all right," Ren reassures me worriedly. "Don't push yourself. You don't have enough chakra left-" We are cut off by Naoki's terrified gasp and know we have been found. Ren grabs Naoki and I drag myself to my feet as we take off without looking back, even as the bandit gives a yell of triumph.

We come to an abrupt halt as we end up, ironically, right back where we started: the edge of the village, near the treeline, with bandits ― _a_ bandit ― blocking the way.

"Well well, what do we have here?" The bandit leader grins, looking just as menacing without his gang behind him as with them. I glance behind us and see two more bandits prowl towards us, cutting off our path back to the village. The leader gives a loud, shrill whistle and I know we don't have much time before the rest of the bandits come.

I feel the wind shift behind us and spin around as the two bandits rush towards us. Naoki hurriedly scoots back as I dash forward to meet the first bandit, and Ren steps around me and rushes forward to face the other bandit, trusting me to take care of this one.

Even with the sporadic bursts of blurring in my vision, I am perfectly capable of taking on a single wannabe-bandit who is obviously underestimating me anyway. I duck as the bandit takes the first swing with his club, and run past him, hooking his foot as I go, making him stumble. I follow this up with a kick to the back of his knees, forcing them to bend and collapse under him. My fist, reinforced with the little chakra I have left, swings out to smash against the side of his head and he hits the ground hard, banging his head, knocking him out like a light. I immediately rush forward to Ren's aid.

Ren, having taken out his bandit with a fist to the gut and chakra enforced chop to the head, has taken on the leader. But the leader has a sword, and that gives him much more reach than us. I notice the small figures of more bandits approaching out of the corner of my eye and know we are almost out of time.

I rush in from the side, only to dance away just as quickly when the sword slices a deadly path towards me. Another burst of dizzying blurriness hits me, but I grit my teeth and squint, refusing to give in. I observe the man.

He is not an expert, I can tell. He does not wield the sword with with the deadly precision of Take-nii, and he has no real stance, let alone a style. He is, like all the others, just a common thug, albeit a bit more clever. It doesn't change the fact that he can still swing around that heavy sword like it is nothing, and Ren is wounded, while it is taking everything I have not to collapse. Without a very obvious opening, it will be hard for us to defeat him. For the first time, I am at loss for what to do.

A rock, hardly larger than my palm, thuds the bandit's back, and he turns, half annoyed and half angry, to see Naoki, terrified, but defiant, and still holding a rock in his other hand. It only takes the bandit one long stride to reach Naoki, but I am already moving forward as fast as I can, not wasting this chance.

"Naoki!" I hear Ren scream, and the bandit swings just as I lash out with my foot in a roundhouse kick, catching him in the thigh, just missing his knee where I had been aiming. I curse woozily in my head. The kick hardly hurts him, as I am nearly completely spent of chakra, and my eyesight is spotting, but he turns back to face me. Ren moves in the split second of distraction. But he only manages to land one hit before the man's sword comes down and clubs him with the handle, and he is tossed away like a rag doll. He doesn't get up.

"REN!" I scream. I make to run ― stagger ― towards him, but the now grinning bandit leader steps between us.

"Now then missy, why don't we have a little bit of fun since your boyfriend is gone?"

I grit my teeth, willing myself not to collapse. I can just make out the trickle of blood making its way down the side of Ren's face between the spots in my eyes. I have never felt so helpless. The bandit leader, evidently annoyed at my lack of reply, keeps goading me.

"Such a stupid little girl, thinking you can stand up to us." He clucks. "You should have just sat down and died like that boy and your friend here, it would have been much easier." And he kicks Ren in the head.

My vision washes a furious, sickening crimson, overwhelming and drowning.

_Ren is fucking _down_ already howdareyouhurthimagainyoucouldvefucking_killed_him-_

When it clears again, I blink hazily. The sickening stench of drying blood hangs heavy around me, and I am splattered, practically drenched, in a dark, sticky liquid that I am sure I will never quite get off my skin. Lying a few feet away is the eviscerated body of the bandit leader, his mutilated intestines spilling out of the remains of his stomach for the world to see. Scattered here and there, are the bodies of various bandits, some killed by a simple, clean, kunai to the head, and others in much...messier ways. I am bleeding from several new wounds that I am not quite sure how I got, and the taste of cloying rust permeating my dry, sticky mouth makes me want to retch. Standing in front of me, a few wary feet away, is a red-eyed, green vested woman sporting a leaf forehead protector. Konoha nin.

"We're here to help," She says in a soothing voice. I spy two more shinobi pulling body after body out of the smoldering ruins of Manchō Village.

"Ren?" I croak. She furrows her brow for a moment.

"If you mean that yellow haired boy, then yes, he will be alright," She reassures me. "Our medic nin is taking care of him right now." I glance around and spy a kunoichi kneeling by Ren's prone body, her hand glowing with pale, green, healing chakra.

"That's good," I say. And I fall forward, my legs buckling beneath me, and allow myself to succumb to the alluring darkness at last.

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><p><strong>Reference:<strong>

Manchō 満潮 = [High] tide

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong> I hope I didn't make them overpowered or anything. I estimate they are almost genin-level, strength-wise at least, though Miyuki might be almost chunin-level mentally/academically, what with all the books she reads. To be fair though, they _have_ been taught to fight, even if their clan does not have any particular taijutsu style or anything to their name. And the bandits were actually just making their debut as a group of bandits, because, let's face it, had they wiped out a village beforehand, Konoha would definitely have already taken notice and eliminated them. So the bandit group was actually more of a group of thugs. Easy enough for two trained children. If Team Seven could defeat a highly-skilled missing nin and his apprentice (Zabuza & Haku) as genin, why wouldn't Miyuki and Ren be able to take out a couple of untrained thugs who can't even project killing intent?

Still. Please tell me any suggestions, criticisms, or other constructive comments you have. I don't have a beta, so I only have my own opinion to go on, and it would be nice to have another point of view on this story.

I hope you liked my fight scenes; I've never written any before.

Next time: Naruto!

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

Edited: 8/19/2015


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

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><p><strong>General Warnings:<strong> AU (later on), (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong> Okay, I think I've been sitting on this chapter long enough... and I apologize for the lack of updates recently. Life, procrastination, and writer's block have taken their toll.

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

It only seems to be a single blink, one long blink that lasts an eternity, but when I open my eyes again, above me looms an unfamiliar, white, plaster ceiling. Another blink, and I become aware of the smooth, soft sheets beneath me, the light blanket covering me, and something taped to my arm. There is a steady, constant beeping noise beside me, and beyond that, the muffled murmurs of conversation. Closer at hand is the soft, sighing whisper of breathing. I painstakingly turn my head. A mop of yellow hair greets me.

For a split second, I stare in befuddlement, before recognizing, and remembering that Ren's hair is no longer white. That I am not in a random country, constantly on the move anymore. That I have left the familiar tent I call home behind, and, most likely, the run down house of Manchō Village as well.

"Ren?" I manage to croak out. My mouth feels like it has inhaled an ocean of dust, but underneath is an odd undercurrent of copper. Blood. I resist the urge to spit.

Ren shoots up so fast it is almost funny, but the amusement dies as I am pinned by worried, sapphire-blue eyes. "Yuki! You're awake! How do you feel?"

"Absolutely peachy," I say with as much sarcasm as I can muster at the moment. It comes out more as a croak than a human voice in my opinion, but Ren looks highly relieved. Whether that is because I am alright or because I am not able to dole out my regular dose of humor is up for debate.

A glass of water appears in front of my face. I reach out for it, struggling to sit up. My muscles feel sluggish, weary and _sore_, as if I had just run across the continent, nonstop, and I scowl as my hand trembles as I reach out for the glass.

"What happened?" I ask after finishing the glass, grimacing slightly as the copper taste refuses to wash away. I make a mental note to procure a toothbrush as soon as possible. But at least the dryness is gone.

"You've been asleep for a week. They also said," here, he stops and frowns at me disapprovingly. "You should have collapsed of chakra depletion a long time before you had. And since you somehow ignored it, probably cuz of adrenaline, you should have then collapsed of blood loss and exhaustion. It was a miracle you managed to stay awake long enough for you to meet the shinobi team." I frown, head aching for a second as I try to recall _why_ I had blood loss and chakra exhaustion in the first place, when I knew our plan to hide in the woods would have put us completely out of the line of fire. Then I remember: Ren had...Ren had run back, hadn't he? And he had tried to rescue-

"Where's Naoki?" I ask. I immediately realize I have made a mistake as Ren's face drains of color, answering my question without his even needing to say a word. My voice seems to stick in my throat as I rack my mind for how ― _when_ ― he died. The memories are vague, spotty, creeping back into my mind as sluggishly as my muscles feel like acting, but I remember, in brief, disjointed spurts, a bandit swinging his sword down on Naoki's frozen form, my _(tooslow) _kick connecting on the bandit's thigh, Ren, falling, blood, red, _everywhere_.

"He..." Ren clears his throat. "He was already de- gone when they arrived," He says, blankly. His hands unconsciously tangle into the sheets, knuckles white. It is obvious he has been trying not to think about it.

My mouth snaps shut, and I suddenly feel as if I have swallowed a rock. I glare down at my hands, forcing myself not to grip the sheets like Ren.

I know ― logically, intellectually ― I should be pleased. The risk that Naoki presented ― the knowledge of our fuuinjutsu skills and the fact that we did not, in fact, grow up in Manchō Village ― is gone. We are safe.

Besides. We had known the village was going to be massacred beforehand ― if we had wanted to do something about it we could have. But...plans are different in reality than on paper, and though I had thought I had known ― had been _prepared_ ― for the massacre and all that it entailed...I wasn't. I can't seem to stop the rising pit of hollow shame, the miserable guilt _― we could have saved them but we didn't; we as good as killed them._

We had chosen to take Naoki. We had chosen to save him, chosen to try and save him from the massacre and we had_ failed_. _I_ had failed. I had failed in my duty, failed in my promise, failed to protect someone I had tried to protect. _(I had failed to change what I had Seen; I had failed to change the future.)_

My stomach sinks uncomfortably. My heart feels like someone is squeezing it, making it hard to breathe. My breath very nearly hitches and the copper in my mouth is bitter now, and I can't seem to swallow it down.

'Is this what failure tastes like?' I wonder. I hate it. I never want to feel like this again.

The image of the bloody battlefield, the broken bodies, the blind devastation of my vision overlaps with the terror on Naoki's face and a gleaming, bloody blade, and I know that next time we may not be as lucky. But next time, I promise myself, next time, _I will be stronger._ I will never be so powerless, so _helpless_, again. From now on, failure is _unacceptable_.

_(But what if we can't change anything? What if our visions are fated, what if destiny is set in a stone, what if we are just cursed to watch as the world is destroyed and we can't do anything; what if Naoki's death was just a higher being telling us that you can't change the future, you couldn't stop the massacre, could you, so what makes you think you can stop the Juubi, you're just a __**pathetic little girl-**__)_

"Hokage-sama is really nice," Ren's voice cuts through my haze of doubt like a kunai. I look up. Ren doesn't seem to notice, staring at the far wall determinedly, the dullness in his eyes slowly leaching away as he shoves his gloomy memories away with the ease of lifelong practice.

"I was 'fraid we were gonna get shoved in the orphanage," Ren babbles. "But he said since we're gonna be shinobi, we can have an apartment instead! I asked if we could share an apartment, I hope you don't mind. We'll still get separate rooms. And we'll get a monthly sort of pension thing from the orphan's fund until we become genin!"

I give a minute smile, ruthlessly boxing away the bitter feelings of failure and doubt away for my nightmares on the next new moon. This is familiar ground: Ren's chattering.

"That's good," I agree. "So we've been enrolled in the Academy already?"

He nods. "I told him about how shinobi are really cool and about our lessons on chakra control and stuff from Samoto-san, and he offered to let us take the entrance test right away!" I nod as well, knowing our excuse for our already developed chakra coils.

(Samato Kasumi had been a former chuunin that had retired to Manchō Village, her birthplace, after losing her legs and arms to some type of poisonous nerve gas in the Second Shinobi War. She had also conveniently lost contact with Konoha some ten years previous, which would explain away why they had had no clue of our existence. We would still need to hide our fuuinjutsu skills for a while though, until we got access to the library to explain away how we knew it.)

Ren continues blabbering. "We're gonna start in September though, so we still have about a month until it actually begins. You're gonna need to take a test later, to see if you're going to need any extra tutoring to catch up, cuz the we missed the first term of school. I already took mine. I also got to take an extra test to determine my grade level and stuff." He grimaces. "I didn't get into the one of my age group cuz I don't actually know anything, but I managed to skip two grades. You're lucky you only turned seven this year, Yuki, that's around the age kids are supposed to enter the academy, so you won't have as much catching up to do. I'm gonna have to study with a bunch of brats."

I snort. "You're a brat yourself, Baka-Ren, you'll fit right in."

"Hey!" He pouts. Inwardly, I give a small sigh of relief. I am glad he is coping ― if not perfectly, at least adequately (by our clan's standards, which were, admittedly, not the best, seeing as our way of dealing with trauma was generally to leave the person alone to figure out how to deal, unless they got to the point here they couldn't function at all) ― with Naoki's death. He had been closer to Naoki (and all the other children) than I had after all.

"When can I get out of this...what is this place anyway?" I ask, glancing around. I peer suspiciously at the beeping machine with zig-zaggy lines going across the monitor and the pole and bag with a tube connected to my arm, and glance at the light green curtains separating my bed from, presumably, another bed. Ren perks up.

"Oh! Oh yeah! This is a hospital! Like those places people in big villages go to when they get sick in those books you read, remember? That's an IV and that's the heart monitor! Isn't it cool?"

"Not really," I say flatly. "The beeping gets on my nerves. When can I get out?" Inwardly I am intrigued. I had never seen the inside of a real hospital ― the closest I had ever gotten to one was the medical tent in our clan, and house of Manchō village's healer. But the orderliness and uniform color scheme, not to mention the pungent smell of _something_ made the entire atmosphere feel oppressive. No wonder people in books don't like hospitals.

"You can't go out yet," Ren informs me, too cheerily for my liking. "They're gonna keep you in here until you're all better, so don't even think about sneaking out." I glower at him, my hands itching to unseal a scroll and smack him.

"Well then, make yourself useful and go buy me a book or something," I order. My hands feel terribly empty without something in it, and I notice my fingers curling around the sheets unconsciously. I scowl, and untangle my fingers. Ren looks highly amused, his previous misery all but buried under his mask.

"Yes ma'am," he says, getting up and walking to the door. "Don't sneak out okay?"

"Yeah yeah..." I mutter. As soon as I am sure he is gone, I swing my legs over the side of the bed.

I'm not sneaking out, I tell myself. Just going for a short walk. My legs tremble under me, and I grimace from the exhaustion still wracking my body, but I don't collapse. I manage to take a few steps before admitting to myself that perhaps that short walk was going to have to be limited to walking to the window ― my legs weren't recovered enough yet to walk anywhere of importance and back in the time it will take Ren to buy a book and return. I take one shaky step after another, passing the empty bed on the other side of the white curtain, before finally stumbling forward and grasping the windowsill.

My breath catches in my throat.

Konoha is...beautiful.

From the window of my third story room, I can see buildings ― _actual buildings_, and such colorful ones too, so different from the drab tents of my clan and rundown shacks of Manchō Village ― everywhere. Just a few streets away, there is a bustling market, people yelling their merchandise, shoppers bargaining with storekeepers, and children weaving through the crowd, playing tag, laughing. Two blocks away is a large, red tower with the kanji for "Fire" on it. I know instinctively this is the Hokage tower ― no other building is quite as large or gives off the same aura of power. And above it all, overlooking the entire village, are four huge stone faces, carved on the cliff ― the Hokage faces.

It is so bright.

So carefree.

_So this is my new home._ I am almost too afraid to go outside, to be a part of this beauty.

Perhaps I had spent too long gaping or perhaps Ren had simply been quicker than anticipated, but the door bangs open.

"Yuki~ I'm back!"

Shit.

There is a moment of silence and something thumps to the floor before-

"She's gone!" Ren yelps. " Where'd she go!? I told her not to sneak out! She's still hurt! Yuki, come back! Where is she? Right, right, calm down..." I hear him take a steadying breath before he mutters, "Oh my god, that scary nurse is gonna kill me-"

I snicker. "Over here Baka-Ren." There is the sound of pattering footsteps and Ren comes into view, his face pale. I feel a flicker of guilt at the obvious relief in his eyes, but it quickly disappears when he goes on a full, mother-hen-mode rant.

"Yuki! You idiot! You're still hurt! You're not supposed to be getting up! What if you fall or-"

"Baka-Ren. I am not going to collapse. I'm not that stupid. I know what I'm capable of."

"Right." He says flatly. "Says the person who kept going after chakra exhaustion, after her body was completely worn out, after she lost a pint of blood, _and_ after she got a knock to the head!" I scowl. When he put it that way...

And then he asks the damning question.

"And how did you manage to use up all of your chakra like that anyway?" He stops, waiting expectantly for an answer, arms akimbo and somehow managing to give off a credible impression of Kaa-san, despite being around a foot shorter, male, and currently blond. I curse internally. I can't think of a believable lie. I do not know any jutsus that would consume that much chakra ― or rather, I don't _know_ any jutsus except in theory other than the shunshin. Besides, Ren always seemed to know when I was lying anyway. With that in mind: "I couldn't find you. I'm not that good at chakra sensing yet so I..." I trail off, letting him come to the right conclusion by himself.

"You used your-" Ren stops, having enough sense not to mention our kekkei genkai, horror dawning in his eyes. He seems speechless for a moment, but then he finds his voice again, words spilling out so fast he nearly chokes. "You _idiot!_ You could have _died!_ What were you _thinking_? _Were_ you even thinking? Even if you _didn't_ die, what if someone had come up and killed you while you were concentrating? What if a house collapsed on you? And you _kept going_ after you used it? Are you_ insane?_ I could hardly move when I first started and you-" He waves his hands madly, the tirade coming to a halt as he splutters, trying to find the right words to express himself.

"You could have _died,_" he says finally. "What were you_ thinking?_" I purse my lips, not about to admit that I had been worried, and make to go back to the bed. Ren lurches forward and adamantly supports me even when I glare at him.

"I don't regret it," I say, unable to keep the tiniest note of petulance from creeping into my voice. I cross my arms, leaning back on the bed as a wave of exhaustion washes over me. i can feel my eyes drooping with heaviness but I persist stubbornly anyway. "And I'll do it again if you ever do anything stupid like that again." Ren looks like he wants to protest but swallows it reluctantly at my latter words. I know he would have done the same had he been in my place.

"I won't do it again," Ren promises quietly. "I'm sorry." I stare at him in surprise. I hadn't expected him to say that. Because...

Because it was _Ren_. It was just who Ren was ― softhearted, reckless, never thinking things through. He would never have been able to leave someone behind like that. I would have been more surprised if he _hadn't_ done what he had. It was my fault for not thinking things through and planning for that beforehand. If anything, _I_ should be the one apologizing.

But I don't.

"That's good," I say instead. I'm sure Ren knows what I want to say anyway. His mouth twitches up faintly and I blink slowly, eyelids heavy, barely stifling a yawn.

'Go to sleep," he whispers. "I'll still be here when you wake up. And you can read the book I got you. I've heard it's pretty good."

"M'kay," I mumble, my eyes already slipping closed. "Than's Ren." And I'm pretty sure Ren smiles.

~ : {TDOM} : ~

I jerk awake, barely stifling a gasp. A phantom of the burning village and Naoki's blank, grey eyes, blood soaking into his matted hair and snaking down his face, dance before my eyes, but I blink, and the blank white ceiling of the hospital reverts back to itself once more. It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare.

I sit up, squinting from the bright sunshine glaring in from the window. I hate new moons. The dreams ― yes, dreams, not visions ― always brought up memories I would rather forget. The recent dreams had all been of Manchō Village, of Naoki, of Atsuko, of everyone who had died. Even the dead bandits had worked their way into my twisted nightmares. Not that that was anything new. I could hardly remember a time where I had a dream that didn't have at least a couple dozen corpses.

"Yuki~!" Ren sings, banging the door open. I jerk my head up so fast my neck cricks, my face automatically falling into its usual blank mask, but I relax when I realize who it is. Concern briefly flashes through Ren's eyes but it is quickly replaced by understanding. I am not the only one that suffers from nightmares on new moons after all. He continues brightly, knowing the clan's unspoken rule not to discuss our dreams unless the other initiates it. Which I had no intention of doing.

"They're letting you out of the hospital today!"

"About time," I grumble, shoving my morbid thoughts out of my mind. "I was fine three days ago." Ren rolls his eyes.

"Your idea of fine needs some serious reworking," he informs me, gathering the little things I have ― books, mostly ― from the bedside table. "Come on, we've got to sign you out. And then I'll show you our apartment, and you can decorate your room. I remembered to get you a couple of bookshelves, don't worry..."

~ : {TDOM} : ~

It is barely two days after my release from the hospital, and Ren has sent me shopping. Sighing, I glance around, knowing I am lost. Direction has never been my forte, and Konoha's maps were all classified. I wander the streets aimlessly.

"Get out of my shop you monster!" I look around to see the elderly owner of a nearby shop glaring at a young boy. The scene is already gathering a crowd and I am surprised, and then disgusted, to see cold, impassive faces, hateful eyes, and cruel sneers, all directed at the sunny-haired child. There is not a single kind face amongst them. My initial awed impression of Konoha plummets.

"But I just wanted-"

"You heard me! Get out you demon if you don't want a beating you deserve!" The boy backs away as the old storekeeper raises a threatening broom and I feel a flare of anger. Acting on a sudden, uncharacteristically benevolent whim, I storm over.

(Looking back later, I often wonder whether it was my Eye that had prompted me to step in. I certainly wouldn't put it past it.)

"Excuse me," I cut in icily, stalking into the scene and stepping in front of the boy, stopping the jeers instantly. "But what exactly do you think you are doing?" The man splutters.

"Who're you kid? Haven't you parents told you to stay away from that- that _thing_?"

"I do not see a _thing_ here. I see a boy who has done nothing more than set foot in this store. He has not provoked you, or anyone else here. And yet you threatened him with a beating for no reason whatsoever. Pardon me if I am worried that you may have anger issues and should be prohibited from running a store that caters to children." I cast a cold, disdainful eye on the crowd and am vindictively pleased to see most of them flinch. A few even look guilty. Perhaps there is some hope for Konoha after all. The storekeeper seems to be less than intelligent however, spluttering in wordless rage.

"He deserved it-"

"How so? He has not done anything but try to enter your shop."

"He's a fucking demon!" I swallow the impulse to kick the man in the groin, instead opting to glance over the wide-eyed boy.

"Hair on his head, two eyes, one nose, one mouth, one head, two arms, and two legs. Normal number of fingers too. Looks perfectly human to me."

"He murdered my son!" The man's screech has risen to a level that grates on my ears, but I resist the grimace, raising an eyebrow instead, before scanning the boy over again, noting his scrawny frame, scruffy clothes (as well as the smooth edges of several of the mended rips that indicate some level of attempted training in a bladed art), lack of a headband, and the deep kunai callouses on his hands.

"He's less than ten years old. No headband either, so he's probably still in the Academy," I deadpan. "How exactly did an _Academy student_ murder your son and get away with it?" There is no answer, just a bit of red faced sputtering and fishlike gaping.

"He- he-" I roll my eyes, knowing I should leave before I did anything regrettable. To him.

"Whatever. You have made it perfectly clear that you are not fit to be around children, let alone a storekeeper. Come, let's leave the senile old fool to his ravings." The boy nods dumbly and the crowd parts like water before us as I drag him away.

"You didn't have to do that," The boy speaks up a few streets later. I turn to stare at him incredulously.

"Excuse me?" He shifts, looking uncomfortable.

"Y-you didn't have to-"

"So? They pissed me off." And because you didn't seem like you were going to stand up for yourself and that pisses me off too, I add in my head. He stares at me.

"But now all the storekeepers won't let you in their shops anymore."

"Then they didn't deserve my business in the first place," I scoff. If this was the sort of customer service Konoha boasted then I shuddered to think of what the services of the less peaceful and prosperous villages were like. The boy scuffs the ground with a worn sandal, looking miserable.

"But-"

"Look kid," I briefly wonder about the irony of me calling someone else a kid, but I dismiss it just as quickly. I couldn't remember when I had _ever_ felt like a child, honestly. Children weren't supposed to watch people suffer and die every night, they weren't supposed to have the weight of the world, the weight of the _future_ thrust upon their shoulders, they weren't supposed to be very short adults before they had even reached their fifth birthdays. But that was my clan in a nutshell, so I digress.

"It's not right for anyone to treat anyone like he did." I lecture the boy, who reminds me much too much of Ren, with those sky blue eyes, sad and lost under a mask of cheer. "If people here treated me like that for no reason, then I'd probably immigrate to Kumo or something or at least complain to the Hokage. Plus, you're going to a Konoha shinobi, aren't you?" I ask, tugging pointedly at one of the smooth-edged rips on his shirt. "You're going to have to protect the people of this village and that means them too, and you shouldn't have to dedicate your life to people that treat you like crap. There's always gonna be some fear of course; that's just a part of being a killer for hire, but even shinobi don't have to put up with outright abuse, so all you're doing by letting them treat you like crap is showing them that they _can_ treat you like crap without any consequences so they'll _always_ treat you like crap because they've no incentive not to. So you should stick up for yourself kid, or find some way to get back at them until they learn that treating you like crap is a stupid thing to do."

My mouth snaps shut, the words deserting me. I direct a scowl at the boy, who still looks rather shell-shocked. I had just spoken more than I usually did in a week for him. I idly wonder if Ren would be upset if I informed him that I had used up my quota of words for the week and proceeded to grunt, glare, and scowl as a form of communication for the rest of said week. He probably would. I sigh mentally.

"Why did you _do_ that though?" The boy speaks up, redirecting my attention to him again. My scowl immediately deepens.

"Did what I just say go right over your head?" I inquire acerbically. He shakes his head frantically.

"No, it's just that," he falters briefly. "It's just, no one's ever done anything like that before." I snort.

"Well, most people are blind fools," I say tartly. He gapes at me for a second before he breaks into peals of childish snickers. I release a sigh, the tension in my body unconsciously running out of my frame at the sound of his clear, genuine laugh. It suits him much better than a frown does.

"You just insulted almost everyone in Konoha!" He tells me, grinning. I shrug indifferently. What did their opinions matter when they had little to no place in my personal life anyway?

The boy looks unsure for a moment, before thrusting out his hand. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet you!" He declares. A fleeting thought that the name he introduced himself by sounded oddly familiar passes through my head, but I push it aside for a moment in favor of studying him up close for the first time. And I start. Because it is only now that I realize that this is him. The boy; the whiskered, blond boy of my ritual vision.

But at the same time, he is not. He is younger. Shyer. Not the hyperactive, orange loudmouth of my visions just yet. He can be loud, yes, of that I have no doubt, and can't seem to stop moving for a second ― I briefly wonder if he has ADHD ― but his wide, smiling mask does not quite hide the way his shifting feet seem poised to run at any moment and the way he hunches ever so slightly, always ready to take a blow. I can see, almost as clearly as day, his fear, his mistrust, his pain as he introduces himself. And the _loneliness_, lurking underneath it all in those seemingly guileless blue eyes, smothering, choking, and drowning.

And...it hurt. Because it reminded me so much of us, my clan, so isolated and alone, trapped in visions of what is to be and unable to change it. And to be truthful, I wouldn't wish the burden of the future on anyone.

"I'm Miyuki. Getsumei Miyuki," I say, my voice not giving away any of my turmoil, and I am thankful that we had long since decided and gotten used to our new surnames. I take his hand, shaking it. "It's nice to meet you too, Uzumaki-san." The name sounds oddly familiar, but I can't quite recall from where. He wrinkles his nose.

'You can just call me Naruto, I don't mind!"

"Naruto," I repeat. I nod, liking it better than 'Uzumaki', a name that felt like it should mean something else. 'Naruto' felt much more casual and _right_. "Well, it's nice meeting you, Naruto. Could you direct me to the market? I'm lost." He nods so fast that, for a moment, I think his head will fly off.

"You keeping walking down the street until you see the side of the hospital. And then you turn right and keep walking until you see the market to your left."

"Thanks," I tell him. "Try not to piss off any more rabid shopkeepers alright?" He made a face.

"It's not my fault they don't like me."

"I know," I tell him, and he looks sort of surprised. It's okay though. I'm not sure why I said it myself. So before he can ask, I spin on the balls of my feet and head off.

"See ya, Miyuki-chan!" He hollers at my back. I grimace in exasperation. Wonderful. Another loudmouth. Why did I seem to attract people like Ren, exactly? I raise a hand and wave, not looking back. There was no need to make him even more excited than he sounded already.

I wait until I get home with all the groceries and shut the door before letting a small smirk cross my face.

"First contact initiated," I tell Ren rather cheerfully, feeling like one of those spies in overdramatic spy novels.

"You're smiling! Who the hell are you and what have you done with Yuki?!" He replies, pointing a spoon at me mock-menacingly.

I whack him over the head with a book.

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><p><strong>Reference:<strong>

Shunshin no Jutsu 瞬身の術 = Body Flicker Technique

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><p><strong>Notes:<strong> I must say I liked the previous chapter more than this one. Maybe it's because of the way it was just so easy to type. Or maybe it was because of the fight scene...

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>

Edited: 9/18/2015


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